Department for Transport

East Coast Railway Line

Mr Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make it his policy to nationalise the East Coast mainline.

Joseph Johnson: The Secretary of State has been clear in his statement to Parliament that his decision on which option to take when establishing the next operator will be made in accordance with the following key principles: Protecting the interests of passengers.Preserving the interests of taxpayers, by ensuring value for money.Supporting investment and improvement in the railway, including the deployment of the new InterCity Express trains on the East Coast mainline.The decision will be taken in a transparent way; the Department’s assessment of the option will be published and it will be properly validated. The Department is developing plans to introduce the East Coast Partnership (ECP) - the first of the new generation of long term regional partnerships that will bring together the operation of track and train for the benefit of passengers. The ECP will be a partnership between the public sector and a private partner; the private partner will be procured through a competitive process in order to ensure the best outcomes for passengers and value for money for taxpayers. The ECP will build on the best of the public and private sectors, with private sector involvement bringing innovation, investment and competition.

Department for Transport: Diaries

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many page views there were of his Department's Ministerial diaries in each of the last 12 months.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Details of Department for Transport ministerial gifts, hospitality, travel and external meetings are published quarterly. This information can be accessed on GOV.UK at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dft-ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings To date, the page views for each set of data are:January to March 2017 (published 30 June 2017), 57 page viewsApril to June 2017 (published 13 October 2017), 61 page viewsJuly to September 2017 (published 4 December 2017), 165 page viewsOctober to December 2017 (published 23 March 2018), 152 page views

Roads: Safety

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what guidance his Department has issued to (a) local authorities and (b) police authorities on setting their own road safety targets since the removal of Government road safety targets in 2010; and what information his Department holds on the number of such bodies which have set such targets.

Jesse Norman: The British Road Safety statement sets out the Department for Transport’s overall principles and priorities in relation to British road safety. Local authorities, the police and other bodies are free to set their own road safety targets if they wish.The Department does not issue guidance to local authorities or the police on setting their own road safety targets, nor does it hold records on bodies which may have done so. What matters is that local road safety practitioners, the police or local authorities should be apply and adapt their knowledge and skills to local circumstances.

Electric Vehicles

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of current incentives to encourage the uptake of electric vehicles.

Jesse Norman: Since 2011, more than 140,000 ultra low emission battery electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles have been registered in the UK. In 2017, sales of ultra-low emission vehicles were 1.8% of all new cars, and the UK was the second largest market for ultra low emission vehicles in the EU. We remain on track to meet the 2013 projection for sales of ULEVs to make up between 3-7% of all new sales by 2020. We are supporting the design, manufacture and use of ultra low emission vehicles with a £1.5 billion package of policy support out to 2020.

Electric Vehicles: Charging Points

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what support is available for local authorities to develop electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

Jesse Norman: The Government has put in place a range of grant schemes to support the installation of domestic and workplace charging infrastructure, across the UK. For areas without off-street parking, funding is made available to Local Authorities to install charging infrastructure, through Government’s On Street Residential Charging Scheme. In addition, under the Government’s Go Ultra Low City Scheme, £22.9m has been allocated to support the installation of infrastructure – this is currently being procured and installed in eight UK cities. Following open competitions, 10 Local authorities have also benefited from £14m of Government funding to install taxi chargepoints. At the Autumn Budget in 2017, the Chancellor announced a new £400m electric vehicle Charging Infrastructure Investment Fund. This funding will support the efforts of local authorities across the UK to establish recharging infrastructure. More detail on how the Fund will be administered will be published in due course. We are also taking powers through the Automated and Electric Vehicle Bill to ensure the roll-out of electric vehicle infrastructure at key locations such as motorway service areas and large fuel stations.

Department for Transport: Mobile Phones

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what apps his Department has approved for use on mobile phones issued by his Department.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Department allows installation of apps according to a policy requiring that the app is installed from trusted and secure providers, for example the Google Play store or Apple App store.

Roads: Safety

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, further to oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport of 24 April 2018,  Official Report, column 356WH, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on road safety of the decision to eliminate safety targets; and what the killed or seriously injured figures were in each year from 2007 to 2017.

Jesse Norman: There is no robust academic evidence to indicate the lack of targets in the UK has contributed to the lack of progress in road casualty reduction since 2010. There has been a stalling of progress in road casualty reductions across many economically advanced countries, affecting countries with targets (e.g. Sweden and the Netherlands) as well as the UK where there is no target. The KSI statistics for road accident casualties between 2007 and 2016 can be found in the table below along with a comparison to the 2010 – 2014 average. The KSI figures for 2017 will be published later this year. YearKilledSeriously injuredKilled or Seriously injuredSlightly injuredAll casualties20072,94627,77430,720217,060247,78020082,53826,03428,572202,333230,90520092,22224,69026,912195,234222,14620101,85022,66024,510184,138208,64820111,90123,12225,023178,927203,95020121,75423,03924,793170,930195,72320131,71321,65723,370160,300183,67020141,77522,80724,582169,895194,47720151,73022,14423,874162,315186,18920161,79224,10125,893155,491181,3842010 -2014 average1,79922,65724,456172,838197,294

Department for Transport: Plastics

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department has taken to reduce its use of single-use plastics.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Department for Transport has reviewed all the single use plastics it uses across its estates and is currently introducing measures in line with those set out in the Government’s 25 Year Environment plan which includes a commitment to removing all consumer single use plastics from the central government estate offices.

Railways: Franchises

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what specific provisions within the Forecast Revenue Mechanism which his Department introduced into rail franchises are planned to protect those franchises from future risk and balance the appropriate level between risk and reward.

Joseph Johnson: The Forecast Revenue Mechanism (FRM) provides a risk sharing mechanism by which the risk of actual revenue diverging significantly from the original franchise bid forecast is shared between the Department and the Train Operating Company (TOC). It is designed to respond to the difficulty of accurately forecasting revenue over the long term. It ensures that the TOC shares revenue with the Department when actual revenue outperforms this bid forecast, outside of a specified range and protects the TOC when revenue falls below the specified range. FRM is designed to provide protection against passenger-related revenue risk. The TOC remains on risk for other revenue streams. There are also requirements to align the TOC’s incentives with those of taxpayers and passengers and to protect the quality of passenger services.

Rolling Stock: Procurement

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the most recent Long Term Passenger Rolling Stock Strategy, what his plans are for the 4,000 vehicles which are due to be replaced on the rail network over the next three years in terms of (a) use and (b) storage.

Joseph Johnson: The rolling stock referred to in the Long Term Passenger Rolling Stock Strategy is privately-owned by several rolling stock owning companies and it is a matter for them to determine the use or storage of their assets.

Roads: Litter

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of making Highways England responsible for the removal of litter from (a) the A34 in Oxfordshire and (b) all trunk roads.

Jesse Norman: Picking up litter on the A34 is the responsibility of local government. In order to introduce a transfer of responsibility for the removal of litter on trunk roads such as the A34 from Local Authorities to Highways England the necessary additional funds would have to be made available to the Department and Highways England. I have asked Departmental officials to work with Highways England to assess the costs involved. In the meantime, Highways England are working closely with Local Authorities to improve collaborative working on cleaning up the road network, giving Local Authorities access when Highways England are performing maintenance on roads.

Ports: Infrastructure

Melanie Onn: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department has taken to support logistics and transportation infrastructure around fish landing ports as part of the Seafood 2040 Strategy.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Department for Transport has recently published a port connectivity study (PCS): https://www.gov.uk/government/news/better-connections-to-ports-to-help-business-growth. The PCS sets out the wider economic importance of ports, and how effective, efficient movement of freight to and from ports supports many other parts of the economy, including the logistics sector and port based industries. Such improved connectivity can boost productivity, lower costs and provide access to international markets, and the study identified significant existing funding for road and rail access to ports, as well as how port connectivity is being factored into future investment planning. The principles, connectivity benefits, and transport infrastructure projects detailed in the PCS are applicable to fish handling ports as they are other ports. Seafood 2040 is an industry led strategy. The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs will work with the industry through Seafish and the proposed Seafood Industry Leadership Group to deliver the those recommendations to which the Government has made a commitment.

Motor Vehicles: Exhaust Emissions

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with the automotive industry on the development of the road to zero strategy.

Jesse Norman: Ministers have regular discussions with the automotive industry and other stakeholders on Departmental business, including on a range of issues associated with the transition to zero emission vehicles.

Community Transport: Licensing

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the effect on community transport services in each parliamentary constituency of the proposals in the Consultation on the use of section 19 and section 22 permits for road passenger transport in Great Britain, published in February 2018.

Jesse Norman: An Impact Assessment will accompany the proposed changes to law and guidance, following the consultation about how Regulation 1071/2009 applies to the issue and use of section 19 and 22 permits under the Transport Act 1985. The detail of the Assessment is unlikely to cover impacts in each parliamentary constituency.

A1 (M): Hertfordshire

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has plans to widen the A1M  between Stevenage and Welwyn.

Jesse Norman: The Government recognises that the A1(M) is a route of strategic importance. A smart motorway upgrade between junctions six to eight, which is the busiest section along that route, is in the Road Investment Strategy being delivered by Highways England. The early design work is underway and the current Highways England delivery plan target is for this scheme to start work on site by March 2020. It is expected to have a two to three year construction phase. The completed section will have an additional running lane, providing three traffic lanes in both directions.

Parking: Pedestrian Areas

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing legislative proposals to issue fines for motorists who park cars on pavements.

Jesse Norman: Local authorities already have powers to restrict pavement parking and issue penalty charges to offenders. However, the Department for Transport is currently gathering evidence on the issue of pavement parking, and will be considering the effectiveness of current legislation. We expect to draw conclusions later this year.

Large Goods Vehicles: Weight Limits

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reasons Mobile Batching Concrete Plants are not entitled to operate outside of standard legal gross vehicle weight limits.

Jesse Norman: In the absence of explicit applicable provisions to the contrary, mobile concrete batching plant are subject to the standard legal weight limits for vehicles as defined in regulations. However, the Department has recently announced that it has put in place an arrangement to enable the legal operation of some of these vehicles above these limits for a temporary 10 year period. This is in recognition of the historic custom and practice of the operation of many of these vehicles.

Buses: Tyres

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of existing legislation in ensuring coaches are fitted with tyres and wheels that are safe and do not expose passengers to undue risk of harm.

Jesse Norman: The United Kingdom has some of the safest roads in the world. Statistics show that, on a mile for mile basis, buses and coaches are more than six times safer than passenger cars. Legislation is already in place governing the approval of new vehicles and their components, the authorisation of vehicle operators and the regular inspection and maintenance of vehicles to ensure their roadworthiness. The Department for Transport has commissioned new research that is investigating the effect of age on the integrity of coach tyres and this will be used to inform policy. A decision on whether to review the legislation on tyres will be taken once the findings of the research are available. In the meantime, and on a precautionary basis, the Department for Transport has issued guidance to every bus and coach operator in Great Britain that tyres aged 10-years or more should not be used on the front axle of a bus or a coach. The evidence so far has been that this highly effective.

Motorways: Speed Limits

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has plans to review the compensation arrangements for motorists who received speeding fines while driving on motorways with variable speed limits; and if he will make a statement.

Jesse Norman: Variable speed limits are set on smart motorways below the normal national motorway speed limit of 70mph at busy times to help reduce congestion and keep vehicles moving. They improve road safety and enable more reliable journey times for motorists, by managing the flow of traffic on the strategic road network. Highways England will continue to improve the use of technology across England’s motorways, and have recently announced that they will be further improving the effectiveness of variable speed limits. In any case, however, motorists who have received speeding fines for driving in excess of the speed limit on motorways with variable speed limits have broken the law, and no compensation arrangements are planned.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Wind Power: Seas and Oceans

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the value of exports by the UK offshore wind industry in the next five years; and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for International Trade to the hon. Member for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine on 16th April 2018 to Question 135021.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Mobile Phones

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what apps his Department has approved for use on mobile phones issued by his Department.

Richard Harrington: Due to national security concerns it would be inappropriate to publicly supply a list of applications approved for use on mobile phones issued by the Department, as to do so facilitates attacks against official systems by hostile actors.

Low Pay

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to tackle low pay.

Andrew Griffiths: From 1 April 2018, the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage increased above inflation to give more than two million of the lowest paid workers a pay rise of over 2 per cent in real terms. Over the next 12 months, full time workers aged 25 and over on the National Living Wage will see their earnings grow by more than £600. In the longer term, the Government’s ambitious, modern Industrial Strategy sets out a long-term plan to boost the productivity and earning power of people throughout the UK. It sets out how we will help businesses create better, higher-paying jobs with investment in the skills, industries and infrastructure of the future.

EU Emissions Trading Scheme

Matthew Pennycook: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether it is the Government’s policy to seek to stay within the European Emissions Trading Scheme after the scheme’s third trading phase expires on 31 December 2020.

Claire Perry: The Government is considering all factors in relation to the UK’s future participation, or otherwise, in the EU ETS, in consultation with stakeholders.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Plastics

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department has taken to reduce its use of single-use plastics .

Richard Harrington: The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has made a commitment to eradicate single use plastics by 2020. We are working with our contractors to realise this goal as speedily as possible.

Scottish Limited Partnerships

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many Scottish limited partnerships are qualifying under the terms of the Scottish Partnerships (Register of People with Significant Control) Regulations 2017 and the Companies and Partnerships (Accounts and Audit) Regulations 2013.

Andrew Griffiths: All of the 31,574 Scottish limited partnerships registered with Companies House are eligible under the terms of the Scottish Partnerships (Register of People with Significant Control) Regulations 2017. The above regulations also require a Scottish qualifying partnership (SQP) to register with Companies House and deliver information concerning its People with Significant Control (PSC). A SQP is a general partnership constituted under the law of Scotland that is a qualifying partnership under the Partnership (Accounts) Regulations 2008. As of 1st May 2018, 582 SQPs have delivered PSC information to Companies House. On 30 April 2018, the Government published a consultation document which sets out a range of proposals to reform the law governing limited partnerships, including Scottish limited partnerships. The consultation is in response to a call for evidence in 2017, which highlighted that there are ways in which the legal framework governing limited partnerships could be strengthened and updated. The proposals we are consulting on aim to strike the right balance between maintaining high corporate standards while maintaining the UK’s attractiveness as a place to do business.

Apprentices: Minimum Wage

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to bring apprenticeship wages into line with national minimum wage rates for their age group.

Andrew Griffiths: The Government asks the Low Pay Commission (LPC) to recommend the Apprenticeship National Minimum Wage such that it increases pay of the lowest paid apprentices without damaging their employment prospect. The LPC will be conducting a review of the minimum wage youth rates and the apprenticeship rate structure in light of; changes in young peoples’ participation in work and education, the introduction of the National Living Wage and significant policy changes to apprenticeship policy in England. They are due to issue advice on this matter to Government in Spring 2019.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Afghanistan: Crimes Against Humanity

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions his Department has had with the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on her preliminary inquiries into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Afghanistan since that country's accession to the Rome Statute; what assessment he has made of the progress of the that Court in considering representations submitted by victims of alleged crimes under the Rome Statute prior to the 31 January 2018 deadline; and what the timetable is for that Court to make a decision on the Chief Prosecutor's request for permission to initiate a full investigation of such allegations.

Boris Johnson: The UK is an active supporter of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and engages regularly with the Court on a range of issues. A UK delegation was present when the Prosecutor presented her report on preliminary examinations activities at the ICC Assembly of States Parties in December 2017. The report summarised the work of the Chief Prosecutor's office into the Afghanistan situation, including the recent request for authorisation to proceed with an investigation. The Pre-Trial Chamber judges will assess the Prosecutor's evidence and victims' representations, in order to decide whether the Statute's criteria to authorise opening an investigation have been fulfilled. The UK respects the independence of the judges and trusts that they will reach their decision in a timely manner, but notes there are no specific time limits provided in the Rome Statute, the ICC's Rules of Procedure, or the ICC's Regulations for a decision to authorise an investigation.

Afghanistan: Crimes Against Humanity

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his counterpart in Afghanistan urging the Government of that country to co-operate fully with the preliminary inquiries of the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed since Afghanistan's accession to the Rome Statute.

Boris Johnson: British Government officials regularly meet senior officials in the Government of Afghanistan to discuss compliance with international rule of law to help deliver stability and security for the Afghan population. This is also core to all security and justice training and advisory activity between the UK and Afghanistan.In December 2017, the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor published her annual report on preliminary examination activities at the ICC, which included a summary of the work of her Office into the Afghanistan situation. The report stated that the Government of Afghanistan has made recent efforts to build its capacity to meet its obligations under the ICC Statute, which the UK welcomes.

Madagascar: Politics and Government

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his counterpart in Madagascar on the police response to protests held by opposition activists in Antananarivo on 21 April 2018.

Boris Johnson: ​In response to the events of 21 April in Antananarivo, the UK, France, Germany and the EU issued a joint public statement on 22 April. This condemned the violence and called on all political actors to act responsibly. It also called for the rights of freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly to be respected. Our Ambassador in Madagascar, along with other international partners, have made representations at the highest level regarding this, as well as for the constitutionality of the electoral process to be respected, and for the elections themselves to be conducted in a free, fair, transparent and inclusive manner. The UK will work closely with SADC and other international partners on the ground in Antananarivo to support dialogue and a peaceful resolution to the current political tensions. The first round of dialogue took place on 25 April in advance of the deployment of envoys from SADC, the AU and the UN. During SADC’s most recent visit to Antananarivo on 3 April, their delegation met with our Ambassador and with the key Malagasy political actors, and stressed the importance of stability in the run-up to elections.

Madagascar: Elections

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to help promote dialogue between the Government of Madagascar and members of the opposition on the electoral laws recently adopted by that country's Parliament.

Boris Johnson: ​In response to the events of 21 April in Antananarivo, the UK, France, Germany and the EU issued a joint public statement on 22 April. This condemned the violence and called on all political actors to act responsibly. It also called for the rights of freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly to be respected. Our Ambassador in Madagascar, along with other international partners, have made representations at the highest level regarding this, as well as for the constitutionality of the electoral process to be respected, and for the elections themselves to be conducted in a free, fair, transparent and inclusive manner. The UK will work closely with SADC and other international partners on the ground in Antananarivo to support dialogue and a peaceful resolution to the current political tensions. The first round of dialogue took place on 25 April in advance of the deployment of envoys from SADC, the AU and the UN. During SADC’s most recent visit to Antananarivo on 3 April, their delegation met with our Ambassador and with the key Malagasy political actors, and stressed the importance of stability in the run-up to elections.

Madagascar: Politics and Government

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterparts in Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states on a potential role for that organisation in mediating dialogue between the Government of Madagascar and its opposition; and what assessment he he has made of the outcome of the visit undertaken by an SADC delegation to Madagascar on 3 April 2018.

Boris Johnson: In response to the events of 21 April in Antananarivo, the UK, France, Germany and the EU issued a joint public statement on 22 April. This condemned the violence and called on all political actors to act responsibly. It also called for the rights of freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly to be respected. Our Ambassador in Madagascar, along with other international partners, have made representations at the highest level regarding this, as well as for the constitutionality of the electoral process to be respected, and for the elections themselves to be conducted in a free, fair, transparent and inclusive manner. The UK will work closely with Southern African Development Community (SADC) and other international partners on the ground in Antananarivo to support dialogue and a peaceful resolution to the current political tensions. The first round of dialogue took place on 25 April in advance of the deployment of envoys from SADC, the AU and the UN. During SADC’s most recent visit to Antananarivo on 3 April, their delegation met with our Ambassador and with the key Malagasy political actors, and stressed the importance of stability in the run-up to elections.

Madagascar: Demonstrations

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to his counterpart in Madagascar urging the Government of that country to lift its ban on political demonstrations in that country.

Boris Johnson: In response to the events of 21 April in Antananarivo, the UK, France, Germany and the EU issued a joint public statement on 22 April. This condemned the violence and called on all political actors to act responsibly. It also called for the rights of freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly to be respected. Our Ambassador in Madagascar, along with other international partners, have made representations at the highest level regarding this, as well as for the constitutionality of the electoral process to be respected, and for the elections themselves to be conducted in a free, fair, transparent and inclusive manner. The UK will work closely with Southern African Development Community (SADC) and other international partners on the ground in Antananarivo to support dialogue and a peaceful resolution to the current political tensions. The first round of dialogue took place on 25 April in advance of the deployment of envoys from SADC, the AU and the UN. During SADC’s most recent visit to Antananarivo on 3 April, their delegation met with our Ambassador and with the key Malagasy political actors, and stressed the importance of stability in the run-up to elections.

Madagascar: Politics and Government

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to his counterpart in Madagascar urging the Government of that country to lift its embargo on the public release of a report of the extraordinary sessions of Parliament during which new electoral laws were recently adopted.

Boris Johnson: In response to the events of 21 April in Antananarivo, the UK, France, Germany and the EU issued a joint public statement on 22 April. This condemned the violence and called on all political actors to act responsibly. It also called for the rights of freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly to be respected. Our Ambassador in Madagascar, along with other international partners, have made representations at the highest level regarding this, as well as for the constitutionality of the electoral process to be respected, and for the elections themselves to be conducted in a free, fair, transparent and inclusive manner. The UK will work closely with Southern African Development Community (SADC) and other international partners on the ground in Antananarivo to support dialogue and a peaceful resolution to the current political tensions. The first round of dialogue took place on 25 April in advance of the deployment of envoys from SADC, the AU and the UN. During SADC’s most recent visit to Antananarivo on 3 April, their delegation met with our Ambassador and with the key Malagasy political actors, and stressed the importance of stability in the run-up to elections.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Vacancies

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the average time taken was to fill vacancies for (a) Administrative Assistant/Administrative Officer, (b) Executive Officer, (c) Senior Executive Officer/Higher Executive Officer, (d) Grades six and seven civil servants and (e) Senior Civil Service grade positions in his Department in each of the last five financial years.

Sir Alan Duncan: ​The average recruitment time to fill vacancies has been calculated as the time from when the campaign was launched to contract start time. This includes the time it takes to get security clearance. For permanent Foreign and Commonwealth Office staff security clearance is at the highest level, Developed Vetting (DV). We only have detailed records back to 2014/2015. The following table shows the average times to fill vacancies, by grade, for the past four financial years: Grade2014/152015/162016/172017/18Administrative OfficerN/A6 months6 months6 monthsExecutive officerN/AN/AN/A3 monthsHigher / Senior Executive Officer8 months6 months6 months5 monthsGrades 6 / 7 Officers8 months6 months6 months4 monthsSenior Civil Service8 months5 months6 monthsN/A

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Mobile Phones

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what apps his Department has approved for use of mobile phones issued by his Department.

Sir Alan Duncan: For national security reasons the Government does not publicly supply a list of applications approved for use on mobile phones issued by Departments.

Israel: Palestinians

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Israeli counterpart on adherence to international humanitarian law when responding to Palestinian protests on Gaza’s borders.

Alistair Burt: ​We continue to raise our concerns about the high volume of live fire being used in response to the protests in Gaza. Our Ambassador to Israel raised this most recently with the Israeli authorities on 27 April. We have been clear that Israel has the right to secure itself against Hamas and other terrorist groups. Hamas and its operatives have been exploiting these protests for their own benefit. We are urging Israel to show restraint, and the Palestinian leadership to ensure the protests are peaceful.

Saudi Arabia: Arms Trade

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs,what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's policy of the decision by the German Government in 2017 to cease selling arms to the Saudi Government; and what recent discussions he has had with his German counterpart on that matter.

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's policy of the decision by the Norwegian Government in 2017 to cease selling arms to the Saudi Government; and what recent discussions he has had with his Norwegian counterpart on that matter.

Sir Alan Duncan: ​The Foreign Secretary has not recently discussed arms sales to the Saudi Government with either German or Norwegian counterpart. The British Government takes its arms export licensing responsibilities very seriously and operates one of the most robust arms export control regimes in the world. All export licence applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, taking account of all relevant factors at the time of the application. The key test for our continued arms exports to Saudi Arabia in relation to International Humanitarian Law (IHL) is whether there is a clear risk that those items subject to the licence might be used in a serious violation of IHL. The situation is kept under careful and continual review.

Occupied Territories: Arms Trade

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the Government of Israel has given undertakings to the UK Government on limits on the use in the Occupied Palestinian Territories of arms and arms components imported from the UK.

Alistair Burt: ​The Government takes its defence exports responsibilities extremely seriously and operates some of the most robust export controls in the world. We only approve equipment which is for Israel's legitimate self-defence and when we are satisfied that it would be consistent with the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria and other relevant commitments. All applications for export licences are assessed on a case-by-case basis against strict criteria. We will not issue a licence if there is a clear risk that the equipment might be used for internal repression, or if there is a clear risk that it would provoke or prolong conflict.

Israel: Peacekeeping Operations

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he is investigating the use by the Israeli Government of armoured vehicles, assault rifles, small arms ammunition, sniper rifles and components for sniper rifles exported from UK to Israel.

Alistair Burt: ​The UK has exported a number of military-listed items to Israel over the last 12 months. UK arms exports are subject to export controls and all decisions to approve export licences to Israel are considered on a case-by-case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria (Consolidated Criteria). Decisions are based on the most up-to-date information and analysis available, including reports from our overseas network and military contacts. The Consolidated Criteria provide a thorough risk assessment framework and require consideration of the impact of providing equipment and its capabilities. We do not issue export licences where we assess there is a clear risk that the goods might be used for internal repression, in the commission of a serious violation of international humanitarian law, or where the export would provoke or prolong conflict. We keep the situation in Israel under continued review. We do not collect data on the use of equipment after sale.

Israel: Arms Trade

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of whether any arms or arms components exported from the UK to Israel have been used against Palestinians in the West Bank or Gaza in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: The UK has exported a number of military-listed items to Israel over the last 12 months. UK arms exports are subject to export controls and all decisions to approve export licences to Israel are considered on a case-by-case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria (Consolidated Criteria). Decisions are based on the most up-to-date information and analysis available, including reports from our overseas network and military contacts. The Consolidated Criteria provide a thorough risk assessment framework and require consideration of the impact of providing equipment and its capabilities. We do not issue export licences where we assess there is a clear risk that the goods might be used for internal repression, in the commission of a serious violation of international humanitarian law, or where the export would provoke or prolong conflict. We keep the situation in Israel under continued review. We do not collect data on the use of equipment after sale.

Israel: Arms Trade

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure his Department can track the use of arms and arms components exported from the UK to Israel.

Alistair Burt: The UK has exported a number of military-listed items to Israel over the last 12 months. UK arms exports are subject to export controls and all decisions to approve export licences to Israel are considered on a case-by-case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria (Consolidated Criteria). Decisions are based on the most up-to-date information and analysis available, including reports from our overseas network and military contacts. The Consolidated Criteria provide a thorough risk assessment framework and require consideration of the impact of providing equipment and its capabilities. We do not issue export licences where we assess there is a clear risk that the goods might be used for internal repression, in the commission of a serious violation of international humanitarian law, or where the export would provoke or prolong conflict. We keep the situation in Israel under continued review. We do not collect data on the use of equipment after sale.

Gaza: Visits Abroad

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 27 April 2018 to Question 137403, on Gaza: Visits abroad, what plans he has to further investigate the medical needs of people affected by the situation in Gaza by sending representatives into (a) hospitals and (b) medical centres.

Alistair Burt: The UK remains deeply concerned about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, and supports the health sector through funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency. We are also supporting the United Nations Children's Fund to provide clean water and rehabilitate sanitation facilities to stop the spread of disease. Officials from our onsulate-General in Jerusalem regularly visit Gaza, including medical facilities, and intend to do so again soon.

Syria: White Helmets

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much financial assistance was provided by the Government to the organisation Syria Civil Defence in the last five years.

Alistair Burt: In the last five years (from June 2013 until 31 March 2018) the UK provided £38m of support to Syria Civil Defence (also known as the White Helmets) through the cross-departmental conflict Pool and its successor, the Conflict Stability and Security Fund.

Rome: Football

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations his Department has made to Italian authorities on safety plans for travelling supporters for the Roma v Liverpool Champions League semi-final second leg in Rome on Wednesday 2 May; and if he will make a statement.

Sir Alan Duncan: ​The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is responsible for supporting all British nationals overseas and their safety and security is our primary objective. British Embassy Rome officials worked closely with Italian authorities in preparation for this match.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Discrimination and Harassment

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he has taken to reduce the number of incidents of (a) discrimination and (b) harassment within his Department.

Sir Alan Duncan: Tackling bullying, harassment and discrimination is a priority for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Senior Management Board. Senior management are agreed that none has any place in the FCO.The steps we have taken include but are not limited to: focused support for 30 overseas posts and UK- based departments according to which figured most in the FCO's staff survey; consideration of Senior Management Staff's records at promotion and performance moderation panels; a new learning and development programme for our network of staff with responsibility for addressing complaints; and an internal communications plan, 'Taking Action Together', to raise awareness of the issue, and so encourage staff to report their concerns and help staff to take action to tackle the issue. We also continue to promote the Civil Service's unconscious bias course to help raise awareness and reduce incidents of discrimination; the course is now a requirement for all staff.

British Overseas Territories: Marine Protected Areas

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the oral contribution by the  further to the remarks of the Minister for Europe and the Americas on 20 February 2018, Official Report, column 13, how many sq km of sea around the UK Overseas Territories are subject to marine protection.

Sir Alan Duncan: Currently there are over 3 million km2 of protected ocean around the UK Overseas Territories of the British Indian Ocean Territory, South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands, Pitcairn, St Helena, and within British Antarctic Territory and Ascension Island waters.The Government, working with Territory Governments, is on course to deliver 4 million km2 of protected ocean by 2020.

World War II: Compensation

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 27 March 2018 to Question 133905, on World War II: Compensation, what information his Department holds on (a) for what reason the UK signed and (b) who was responsible for the UK signing the Treaty on the Final Settlement with respect to Germany in 1990.

Sir Alan Duncan: The Treaty on the Final Settlement with respect to Germany definitively settled matters arising out of the Second World War between the parties to the Treaty, and enabled the united Germany to have full sovereignty over its internal and external affairs. The Treaty was signed on behalf of the United Kingdom by the then Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd. German unification was debated in the House at the time and the Treaty was laid before the House for clearance under the Ponsonby rule.

Department for Exiting the European Union

Department for Exiting the European Union: Vacancies

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what the average time taken has been to date to fill vacancies for (a) Administrative Assistant/Administrative Officer, (b) Executive Officer, (c) Senior Executive Officer/Higher Executive Officer, (d) Grades 6 and 7 civil servants and (e) Senior Civil Service grade positions in his Department.

Mr Steve Baker: The Department of Exiting the European Union continues to recruit the brightest and the best talent from across the civil service, the wider public sector and the private sector. The Government Recruitment Service (GRS) runs a number of our recruitment campaigns. Based on the data provided by GRS the average length of time taken to fill vacancies since the Department was set up in 2016 is as follows - a. Administrative Assistant/Administrative Officer - local campaigns - non GRSb. Executive Officer - local campaigns - non GRSc. Senior Executive Officer/Higher Executive Officer - 49 daysd. Grades 6 & 7 - 47 dayse. Senior Civil Service grade positions - 29 days The figures for (c) and (d) are predominately based on large campaigns which are usually run over a period of time and can therefore increase the overall average length of time of some campaigns compared to other government departments which use the central government recruitment system for all campaigns. The Department manages all other recruitment campaigns across all grades locally and does not collect the data electronically through local campaigns, so is unable to calculate the time taken to fill vacancies without a disproportionate cost being incurred by the Department.

Department for Exiting the European Union: Diaries

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how many page views there were of his Department's Ministerial diaries in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Steve Baker: We do not have the means to measure page views for the Department’s ministerial diaries. However the following Department for Exiting the European Union gov.uk pages which contain information on ministerial meetings have had the associated number of page views in total over the last 12 months or since their publication - /government/publications/department-for-exiting-the-european-union-ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings-october-to-december-2017 – 1349 views/government/publications/department-for-exiting-the-european-union-ministerial-gifts-hospitality-and-meetings-july-to-september-2017 - 1382 views/government/publications/department-for-exiting-the-european-union-ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings-april-to-june-2017 – 1515 views/government/publications/department-for-exiting-the-european-union-ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings-january-to-march-2017 – 1390 views/government/publications/department-for-exiting-the-european-union-ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings-october-to-december-2016 – 677 views/government/publications/department-for-exiting-the-european-union-ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings-july-to-september-2016 – 144 views

Department for Exiting the European Union: Mobile Phones

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what apps his Department has approved for use of mobile phones issued by his Department.

Mr Steve Baker: The Department for Exiting the European Union does not have a bespoke IT system or dedicated mobile phone provision. The Department’s IT and mobile phone service is hosted by the Cabinet Office. Given national security concerns they feel it would be inappropriate to publicly supply a list of applications approved for use on mobile phones issued by the Cabinet Office. I can confirm that the Cabinet Office acts in full compliance with National Cyber Security guidance on the use of third party Apps. https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/index/guidance

Department for Exiting the European Union: Plastics

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what steps his Department has taken to reduce its use of single-use plastics .

Mr Steve Baker: The Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU) is accommodated in buildings owned by other government departments. The provision of disposable cups is overseen by the landlords for each building.

Galileo System

Gavin Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on the future of the UK's involvement in the Galileo programme.

Suella Braverman: The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union has regular discussions with all Cabinet colleagues, including the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. I can confirm some of these discussions have included the UK’s relationship with the Galileo programme. The UK has made clear to our European partners our desire to continue the UK’s involvement in EU space programmes, including Galileo, provided that the UK, and UK companies, can continue to participate on a fair and open basis.

Fisheries

Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, pursuant to the Answer of 27 April 2018 to Question 137188 on Marine Protected Areas, whether the derogation under the UK's Treaty of Accession to the EU on exclusive use of the six-nautical-miles and 12-nautical-miles fishing zone will remain in force throughout the implementation period.

Mr Robin Walker: As stated in the answer to Question 137188, on 19 March, the UK and EU reached an agreement on the terms of the implementation period. Under the agreement, the common fisheries policy, including arrangements on the management and access of the six-nautical-miles and 12-nautical miles fishing zones, will continue to apply during the duration of the implementation period. By December 2020 we will be negotiating fishing opportunities for 2021 as an independent coastal state completely outside the Common Fisheries Policy.

Common Travel Area

Mr Ranil Jayawardena: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what discussions he has had during negotiations on the UK leaving the EU on the UK maintaining the Common Travel Area with the Republic of Ireland.

Mr Robin Walker: The UK Government is firmly committed to maintaining the Common Travel Area (CTA) and to protecting the rights enjoyed by UK and Irish nationals when in each other’s state. The Joint Report recognises that the UK and Ireland can continue to make arrangements between themselves relating to the CTA. The Commission’s draft Withdrawal Agreement Treaty text builds on that agreement, confirming that the UK and Ireland can continue to work together as part of these arrangements. We are determined to ensure that all of the commitments on Northern Ireland/Ireland in the Joint Report are turned into legally binding text.

Agriculture

Giles Watling: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on negotiations on farming policy for when the UK leaves the EU.

Mr Steve Baker: We continue to work closely with ministers and officials from all departments, including the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, to further our preparations for exit from and new partnership with the EU. The Secretary of State continues to have regular conversations with Cabinet colleagues on all aspects of exiting the EU, including on agriculture policy. All ministers are clear that leaving the EU means leaving the Common Agricultural Policy, and making our own decisions for our own farmers’ benefit for the first time in around half a century.

Immigration: EU Nationals

Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what progress has been made during negotiations on agreeing new arrangements for the rights of non-UK EU citizens after the UK leaves the EU.

Suella Braverman: We have reached a reciprocal agreement with the EU, which safeguards the rights of EU citizens living in the UK and UK nationals living in the EU. This agreement, highlighted green in the Withdrawal Agreement legal text, means citizens resident before the end of the implementation period will be able to continue living their lives broadly as they do now. The Government is now focusing on the successful domestic implementation of the agreement. We are also seeking further details on the steps Member States are taking to protect the status of UK nationals resident in the EU.

Department of Health and Social Care

Paramedical Staff: Training

Peter Kyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 19 April 2018 to Question 135158, if he will classify paramedic science as an exception course to allow those who study it as a second degree to obtain a student loan.

Stephen Barclay: Holding answer received on 26 April 2018



Since the decision taken by the Health and Care Professions Council on 21 March 2018 to move paramedic programmes to a degree level, the Department of Health and Social Care has been working with Health Education England and the Department for Education to actively review the position of students wishing to study a paramedic programme. This review will consider aligning paramedic courses with other healthcare courses reviewed during the recent healthcare education funding reforms.

Motor Neurone Disease: Medical Treatments

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress has been made on the development of treatments for motor neurone disease.

Steve Brine: Treatment for motor neurone disease (MND) can include a range of approaches such as counselling and emotional support, respiratory care, speech and language therapy, physiotherapy, respiratory secretion management, neurorehabilitation, physiotherapy and palliative care. Whilst drugs can be used for symptom management, riluzole is the only pharmacological drug licensed in the United Kingdom to slow the progression of MND. Through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), we are investing over £1 billion a year in health research. In 2016-17, the NIHR invested £4.58 million to fund and support a range of research studies and infrastructure with a focus on MND and closely-related conditions. Current research falls in to three broad categories:- Drugs that will slow down or cure MND;- Improving care, symptom management and quality of life for people with MND; and- Work to better categorise patients with MND so that treatments can be personalised.Examples of drug research include the first gene therapy studies for a type of MND that runs in families, and a multicentre academic European Union and MND Association funded study of interleukin-2 to assess whether it can slow progression by reducing the immune system response.  The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including MND. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority has also advised that it is aware of five active clinical trials into treatments for MND.

Gambling

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the number of people who have a gambling addiction.

Steve Brine: Estimates of the numbers of people who are problem gamblers are not readily available, but the Health Survey for England does provide percentage prevalence rates. In 2016, 0.7% of people in England were identified as problem gamblers.

Hospitals: Parking

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of NHS Foundation Trust hospital car parks in England use pay on exit facilities.

Stephen Barclay: The data is not collected in the format requested. The Patient Led Assessment of the Care Environment (PLACE) system assesses the quality of the patient environment. It is a voluntary self-assessment which takes place annually, and applies to hospitals, hospices, and day treatment centres providing National Health Service-funded care. PLACE includes questions on car parking relating to the charging, concessions, and payment methods. The 2017 PLACE data shows: Total number of sites with payment on exit facilities (respondents) = 244Number responded yes: 144 = 59%Number responded no: 100 = 41%  Total number of trusts with payment on exit facilities (respondents) = 118Number responded yes: 94 = 80%Number responded no: 24 = 20% The total number of organisations (including NHS Trusts) that responded was 279, providing assessment of 1,230 sites. All PLACE data is published at: http://hefs.hscic.gov.uk/PLACE.asp

Primary Health Care: Data Protection

Julie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the General Data Protection Regulation on (a) pharmacists, (b) dentists, (c) optometrists, (d) general practitioners and (e) other NHS primary care contractors.

Julie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the quantum of associated costs of implementing the General Data Protection Regulation for (a) pharmacists, (b) dentists, (c) optometrists, (d) general practitioners and (e) other NHS primary care contractors.

Jackie Doyle-Price: It is the responsibility of each organisation to ensure their compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation which comes into effect on 25 May 2018. For the past year we have been working alongside system partners across health and social care in developing a comprehensive suite of guidance products to help organisations recognise their obligations and help put effective governance and risk management arrangements in place from 25 May. These guidance materials are available to all health and care organisations on the NHS Digital website and will include guidance to general practice, optometry, pharmaceutical and dental organisations. In addition, there is considerable information and guidance available from the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Muscular Dystrophy

Dame Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the suitability of the Single Technology Appraisal process for new treatments for patients with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

Steve Brine: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for developing authoritative, evidence-based guidance for the National Health Service on whether drugs and other treatments represent an effective use of NHS resources. NICE assesses most significant new drugs through its technology appraisal programme and has been able to recommend a number of drugs licenced for the treatment of rare diseases for routine use on the NHS. NICE also operates a separate highly specialised technology (HST) evaluation programme for the assessment of very high cost drugs for the treatment of very small numbers of patients. Decisions on the most appropriate programme for individual drugs and other treatments are made through an established topic selection process that includes a public consultation and thorough consideration against a set of published criteria. NICE published HST guidance recommending ataluren for treating Duchenne muscular dystrophy with a nonsense mutation in the dystrophin gene in July 2016 and is currently developing guidance, through its technology appraisal and HST programmes, on other drugs for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Rare Diseases

Dame Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing flexibility within NICE's Single Technology Appraisal process for medicines for rare diseases.

Steve Brine: The Department has made no such assessment. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for developing authoritative, evidence-based guidance for the NHS on whether drugs and other treatments represent an effective use of National Health Service resources. NICE assesses most significant new drugs through its technology appraisal programme and has been able to recommend a number of drugs licenced for the treatment of rare diseases for routine use on the NHS. NICE also operates a separate highly specialised technology evaluation programme for the assessment of very high cost drugs for the treatment of very small numbers of patients. NICE’s methods and processes for the assessment of drugs have been carefully developed over time and are internationally respected. NICE continues to keep its procedures under periodic review to ensure that they remain effective.

Pregnancy: Sodium Valproate

Dame Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what representations his Department and its agencies have received on the resources necessary to improve patient safety and engage with health professionals to raise awareness of the potential health risks for women of child-bearing age taking Sodium Valproate; and if he will make a statement.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is working in partnership with the Department, professional bodies and the healthcare system to deliver a package of measures to raise awareness of the significant risks associated with sodium valproate in pregnancy and to support healthcare professionals in reducing the harms from valproate in women of child-bearing age and improving patient safety in line with the strengthened regulatory position. Educational materials for healthcare professionals and patients are being sent to general practitioners (GP) and specialist prescribers. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has updated its guidelines which mention valproate to reflect the new regulatory measures. GP electronic system providers have provided a search and audit function to facilitate the identification of women of childbearing age on valproate and are updating the alerts for valproate. All parties involved are fully committed to this important work using the resources available from each relevant organisation. In addition, since 2016 the MHRA has been working with a network of over 40 stakeholder organisations (termed the Valproate Stakeholders’ Network) to foster cross-sector support for the new measures and leverage their collective communications reach. The effectiveness of the new measures in reducing prescribing of valproate in women of childbearing potential will be closely monitored. Relevant data will be published and there will be ongoing follow-up to ensure that the harms to the child from valproate in pregnancy are minimised. I would particularly like to thank the families involved in the Valproate Stakeholder Network who have shared their experiences and expertise. Their dedication, support and altruism will help to keep future generations of children safe.

Diabetes: Asians

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the prevalence of (a) type 1 and (b) type 2 diabetes is amongst people of South Asian origin, in (i) each parliamentary constituency, (ii) each clinical commissioning group, and (iii) in England, in the most recent year for which data is available.

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to monitor the effect of diabetes in people of South Asian origin in England.

Steve Brine: Data on the prevalence of type 1 and type 2 diabetes among people of South Asian origin, in each parliamentary constituency, each clinical commissioning group, and in England, are not published in the format requested. The National Diabetes Audit (NDA) reports that approximately 8% of those with type 1 diabetes are from a minority ethnic origin and approximately 19% of those with type 2 diabetes are from a minority ethnic origin. The NDA records the ethnicity of diabetes patients (and other patient characteristics). Information on ethnicity is split by White/ Minority Ethnic Origin and Unknown. Minority ethnic origin includes South Asian, Chinese and other Asian, black, mixed and other ethnicities. The NDA routinely monitors the effects of ethnicity on patient outcomes, percentage of patients receiving National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE’s) recommended eight care processes; achievement of NICE treatment targets and diabetic complications. Further information is available at the following link: https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/national-diabetes-audit/national-diabetes-audit-report-1-findings-and-recommendations-2016-17

Medical Equipment

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the timetable is for the introduction of an outcomes-based payment approach for (a) manufacturers and (b) providers of (i) medical devices, (ii) medical diagnostics, and (iii) health apps; and if he will make a statement.

Jackie Doyle-Price: A fee-for-service payment system, where each individual element of care is charged for separately, does not operate in the National Health Service in England. Generally, acute services are paid for on the basis of complete spells in hospital. With the exception of some high cost drugs and devices, this includes the costs of all devices, diagnostics and any other costs associated with the care whilst in hospital. NHS England is exploring new ways of managing payment for health apps, including a consideration of outcome based payment models.

NHS: Working Conditions

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on staff of different working conditions between staff directly employed by the NHS and those employed by new wholly-owned subsidiary companies in the NHS.

Stephen Barclay: It is for National Health Service foundation trusts to assess the potential impact of different working conditions between directly employed staff and those employed by new wholly owned subsidiaries. In setting up wholly owned subsidiaries and in making decisions about the working conditions for their staff, foundation trusts need to ensure that they comply with employment law and carry out relevant impact assessments. This should ensure that, having followed due process, they are best able to recruit and retain the staff they need to deliver services in the most efficient and effective way within available resources.

Health Services: Children

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will implement a national policy for the training and use of chaperones in the treatment of children in healthcare services in response to the recommendation of the Interim Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, published on 25 April 2018.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse published its Interim Report on 25 April. The Report contains a series of recommendations for specific changes, several of which are directed at Government. The Government welcomes the Report and is now considering the Inquiry’s recommendations very carefully. We will respond fully in due course.

Heart Diseases: Medical Treatments

Karen Lee: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will ensure that NICE clarifies its guidance on the entitlement of patients of varying risk to Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation.

Steve Brine: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an independent body and is responsible for the wording of its recommendations. NICE published final interventional procedures guidance in July 2017 on the use of transcatheter aortic valve implantation for aortic stenosis that recommends the procedure, provided that standard arrangements are in place for clinical governance, consent and audit. NICE interventional procedures guidance makes recommendations about the safety of procedures and how well they work and does not constitute a direction to National Health Service trusts to provide the interventions; it provides information on the circumstances in which to do so might be the right course of action for an individual patient. Decisions about whether to provide a treatment are taken locally.

Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme

Derek Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that improving patient access to innovative new medicines is included in the terms of reference for negotiations on the pharmaceutical price regulation scheme.

Steve Brine: The current Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme has seen the Department prioritise rapid access to innovative, new, cost-effective medicines that improve patient outcomes, including a provision for companies to propose Patient Access Schemes to help make sure these treatments can be made widely available in the National Health Service. This has been supported by a broader range of initiatives including the Cancer Drugs Fund and the new Accelerated Access Collaborative. The Department will shortly be formally agreeing the structure and topics for negotiation with industry on the successor to the current Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme, following the informal discussions which have already begun.

Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme

Derek Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the timetable is for the start of negotiations on the pharmaceutical price regulation scheme.

Steve Brine: Informal discussions have already begun with industry regarding future medicines pricing arrangements. Formal negotiations will begin shortly.

Foetal Alcohol Syndrome

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have been diagnosed with foetal alcohol syndrome in each of the last seven years.

Steve Brine: The Hospital Episode Statistics database contains counts of hospital episodes and attendances rather than people. The following table shows a count of finished admission episodes (FAEs) in England with a primary or secondary diagnosis of foetal alcohol syndrome 2010-11 to 2016-17. YearFAEs2010-112122011-122702012-132522013-142722014-152862015-163492016-17361 It should be noted that this should not be described as a count of people as the same person may have been admitted on one or more occasions.

Social Services: Minimum Wage

Kwasi Kwarteng: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support is available to social care providers to implement the change in guidance on the national minimum wage and national living wage for sleep-in shifts for care workers.

Caroline Dinenage: Through the National Living Wage, the Government is making sure that pay is fair in all sectors, including social care. The Government has already invested an additional £2 billion to put social care on a more stable footing and alleviate short-term pressures across the health and care system. The Government is committed to working with local government and the provider sector to ensure that local authorities understand the costs associated with the National Living Wage when negotiating fee rates.

In Vitro Fertilisation

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 31 January to Question 124439 on In Vitro Fertilisation, what assessment he has made of the potential merits on making NICE guidelines mandatory in cases where service provision has been (a) decommissioned and (b) reduced after a majority of views expressed in a public consultation supported the retention of that service.

Jackie Doyle-Price: We have made no such assessment. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an independent body and its clinical guidelines represent best practice, are based on the best available evidence and developed through wide consultation. NICE clinical guidelines are not mandatory, although National Health Service commissioners are expected to take them into account alongside local priorities in the design of services.

Obesity: Children

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 20 March to Question 132947 on Obesity: Children, what criteria his Department uses to monitor progress on the delivery of the childhood obesity plan.

Steve Brine: We will monitor change in the prevalence of childhood obesity and in the contributory factors of children’s diets and levels of physical activity through various schemes including: - Commercially available datasets on what food is sold through larger businesses for all sectors of the food industry (retailers and out of home businesses e.g. coffee shops, takeaways, restaurants);- The National Diet and Nutrition Survey which will continue to measure changes to children’s diets, reporting biennially;- The National Child Measurement Programme which provides annual data on the prevalence of obesity amongst children in Reception and Year 6;- The Health Survey for England which provides annual data on specified health conditions including overweight and obesity for all age groups including children aged two to 15; and- A new survey commissioned by Sport England to assess children’s level of physical activity which will report annually. In addition, Public Health England will shortly publish its first assessment of progress on sugar reduction; and the National Institute for Health Research Obesity Policy Research Unit will publish its reports on evidence and research as projects are completed.

NHS: Recruitment

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect of the Government's hostile environment immigration policy on NHS recruitment.

Stephen Barclay: The Government is in no doubt of the invaluable contribution that overseas health professionals make to the National Health Service and we will continue to welcome them in future. In a global context, as demand for more staff grows internationally, the United Kingdom’s current and historical dependence on recruitment of overseas staff is neither sustainable nor right as developing countries seek to retain their own much needed health care professionals. That is why we have announced historic increases in training places for doctors and nurses in England, to increase the domestic supply of NHS staff, reduce migration to sustainable levels and to ensure an ethical role in the growing international labour market for health professionals.

Seafood

Melanie Onn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to promote the health benefits of eating more fish and incorporating the principles of the Seafood 2040 Strategy into the NHS, care homes, nursing homes and home care.

Steve Brine: The Government recommends eating at least two portions of fish a week, including a portion of oily fish. This recommendation is promoted through a variety of communications including the national healthy eating model the Eatwell Guide, Public Health England’s (PHE’s) catering guidance (including for older adults in residential care), and the NHS Choices website. PHE, together with representatives from the Department, the National Health Service, the Seafish Industry Authority and others, are part of the ‘Plan for the Public Procurement of Food Implementation Taskforce’ that has been established by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Encouraging and promoting consumption of fish is a component of this plan through implementation of the Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services.

Sexually Transmitted Infections

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many cases of neonatal herpes there has been in the last three years; and how many of those cases resulted in a death.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The information requested is not held centrally.

Sexually Transmitted Infections

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of designating neonatal herpes as a notifiable disease.

Jackie Doyle-Price: No assessment has yet been made of the potential merits of designating neonatal herpes as a notifiable disease.

Department of Health and Social Care: Sick Leave

Paula Sherriff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the amount of sick leave taken by staff in his Department due to mental health causes in the last two years for which data is available.

Caroline Dinenage: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Liverpool, Wavertree (Luciana Berger) on 30 April 2018 to Question 138036.

Diabetes

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to The Government’s revised mandate to NHS England for 2017-18, what steps he is taking to support NHS England to achieve the goal of a measurable reduction in variation in the management and care for people with diabetes.

Steve Brine: Building on the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme, NHS England is developing a diabetes management and care programme aimed at reducing variation and improving outcomes for people with diabetes. NHS England is making an additional £44 million available from 2017/18 to support delivery of the programme in four key evidence-based interventions.

Dementia: Children

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people under the age of 18 have a diagnosis of dementia in (a) England and (b) the North East.

Caroline Dinenage: This information is not available in the format requested. NHS Digital collects and publishes information on the number of patients with a diagnosis of dementia, by gender for people aged 0-29 year olds. This is shown in the following table: Number of patients with a diagnosis of dementia, by gender for 0-29 year olds, England, March 2018  CountsAge Group (Years)MaleFemaleTotal0 to 29221941Source: NHS Digital

Learning Disability

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure equality of access and provision of NHS care for patients with learning disabilities.

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to implement and monitor progress against the recommendations of the Confidential Inquiry into the Premature Deaths of People with Learning Disabilities, published in 2013.

Caroline Dinenage: Individual trusts are now required to publish on a quarterly basis estimates of how many deaths they could have avoided had care been better, including separately reporting on deaths of people who had a learning disability, and to publish evidence of learning and improvements that are happening as a result of their data in annual Quality Accounts from June 2018. NHS England’s Learning Disabilities Mortality Review Programme has been established to review the deaths of people with learning disabilities and implement any recommendations and plans of action. Every National Health Service region is testing the review process and, by March 2019, we expect every area to have established a process to undertake such reviews. The regulatory body, NHS Improvement, works with NHS organisations to help ensure that relevant incidents are reported through all required channels in line with the revised Serious Incident Framework, which was published in 2015. Under the Equality Act 2010, health services have a duty to address health inequality and ensure that reasonable adjustments are in place so as not to disadvantage people with learning disabilities. Legal duties were also introduced through the Health and Social Care Act 2012 so that NHS organisations have regard to the need to reduce inequalities in access to and outcomes from services. The Government has set its expectation for the NHS in its Mandate to NHS England to reduce the health gap between people with mental health problems, learning disabilities and autism and the population as a whole, and support them to live full, healthy and independent lives. Since, 1 August 2016, all organisations that provide NHS care are legally required to follow the Accessible Information Standard. The Standard sets out a specific, consistent approach to identifying, recording, flagging, sharing and meeting the information and communication support needs of patients, service users, carers and parents with a disability, impairment or sensory loss.

Mental Capacity Act 2005

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that all NHS staff are aware of and can correctly apply the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

Caroline Dinenage: The Department is working hard to support good local-level implementation of the Act including:- Creation of National Mental Capacity Forum, chaired by Baroness Finlay, to support strong local implementation. Baroness Finlay is spearheading work with key organisations to improve training and spread good practice;- Co-chairing with the Ministry of Justice an implementation group bringing together national statutory partners, including NHS England, to align work programmes;- Through strong programmes of work around dementia, learning disability and mental health supporting and reinforcing the cultural change envisaged by the MCA of person-centred care and dignity and respect for all; and- Commissioning the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to create guidelines on decision-making and mental capacity for health and social care professionals. All health and care providers and commissioners must take responsibility for implementing the Act, including ensuring that all professionals working with those who may lack capacity have a basic knowledge of the Act. Mental Capacity Act leads in hospitals, local authorities and clinical commissioning groups provide specialist advice on implementation and can be contacted for further information and assistance.

Postnatal Depression

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the effectiveness of general practitioners in (a) identifying and (b) treating perinatal mental health problems experienced by mothers.

Gavin Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support GPs provide to mothers experiencing perinatal mental health problems.

Jackie Doyle-Price: This Government is committed to improving perinatal mental health services for women during pregnancy and in the first postnatal year, so that women are able to access the right care at the right time and close to home. The importance of this is reflected in both NHS England’s ‘Better Births’ and the ‘Five Year Forward View for Mental Health.’ General practitioners and primary care teams have a role in supporting the identification of perinatal mental illness and treatment, and are part of an integrated pathway of services. This includes monitoring early onset conditions, providing pre-conception counselling and referring women to specialist mental health services, including Improving Access to Psychological Therapies and specialist perinatal community teams, if necessary. The Department is investing £365 million to 2020/21 in perinatal mental health services, and NHS England is leading a transformation programme with the development of specialist perinatal mental health community services across England with their investment of £63 million between 2016/17 and 2018/19. Local teams work in close partnership with wider system partners including primary care to provide care and treatment to women with perinatal mental illness. NHS England has also invested in multidisciplinary perinatal mental health clinical networks which include general practitioners, across the country to drive forward change, focusing on collaborative working to develop local, integrated pathways and support early identification of those at risk of mental illness in the perinatal period, to enable better outcomes for women in all communities.

Obesity: Children

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to tackle severe obesity in children.

Steve Brine: We are delivering the most ambitious childhood obesity plan in the world. Key measures include the soft drinks industry levy, helping children to exercise more, funding more research and cutting sugar and calories in food. We are already seeing results with many in the food and drinks industry reducing levels of sugar in their products.

Lyme Disease

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his Department is doing to support further research into the prevention of Lyme disease.

Caroline Dinenage: The Department commissioned four independent separate systematic reviews of all relevant literature on the diagnosis, treatment, transmission and prevention of Lyme disease. The four systematic reviews were completed and published in December 2017. Each review makes conclusions. We are investing over £1 billion a year in health research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The usual practice of the NIHR is not to ring-fence funds for expenditure on particular topics: research proposals in all areas compete for the funding available. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including on Lyme disease. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.

European Food Safety Authority: Membership

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government plans to negotiate associate membership of the European Food Safety Authority for when the UK leaves the EU.

Steve Brine: As my Rt. hon. Friend the Prime Minister said in her speech at Mansion House, we are exploring the terms on which we could remain part of European Union agencies for sectors where close collaboration is critical. We are considering a range of options for the future of risk assessment and scientific advice in the United Kingdom. After the UK has left the EU our priority will be to maintain the UK’s high standards of food and feed safety. The UK has a long tradition of close scientific collaboration with European Food Safety Authority which we greatly value and hope to continue in the future.

Department for International Development

Department for International Development: Mobile Phones

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what apps her Department has approved for use of mobile phones issued by her Department.

Alistair Burt: Due to national security concerns it would be inappropriate to publicly supply a list of applications approved for use on mobile phones issued by the Department, as to do so facilitates attacks against official systems by hostile actors.

Department for International Development: Plastics

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development,  what steps her Department has taken to reduce its use of single-use plastics .

Alistair Burt: In our 25 Year Environment plan the Government outlined a range of measures on how we will reduce the amount of plastic in circulation through reducing demand for single-use plastic. This included a commitment to removing all consumer single use plastics from the central government estate offices. DFID is fully dedicated to supporting this commitment.We are developing strategies to phase out all single use plastics across our UK estate and are working closely with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to review options in overseas offices. To date we have:removed all plastic water cups from our offices and encouraged staff to provide their own re-usable alternatives;replaced single use plastic canteen consumables with non-plastic, compostable alternatives;installed new waste bins and signage to improve the way we stream, segregate and recycle waste, particularly recyclable plastics;begun planning with our suppliers to phase out the sale of all single use plastic food packaging, including plastic drink bottles in our offices.

Developing Countries: Tuberculosis

Jared O'Mara: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to tackle tuberculosis overseas.

Alistair Burt: The UK Government is helping lower and lower middle income countries achieve the ambitious 2035 targets of WHO’s End TB Strategy. We do so by increasing access to, and use of, effective diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis, including drug resistant TB. The Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and malaria is the principal mechanism the UK uses to finance our contribution to combat TB. We have pledged up to £1.1 billion for 2017-2019 to this Fund, which will support treatment for 800,000 people with TB. We also invest in research and product development into more effective diagnosis and treatment. Finally, we support countries to strengthen health systems that can deliver quality TB programmes.

Developing Countries: Drug Resistance and Tuberculosis

Jared O'Mara: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether any representatives from her Department plan to attend the United Nations High-Level Meeting on Tuberculosis and Anti-Microbial Resistance in September 2018.

Alistair Burt: The High-Level Meeting on Tuberculosis at the September United Nations General Assembly will be an important moment to galvanise international political commitment to tackling TB and anti-microbial resistance. The government will have appropriate representation at this meeting.

Nigeria: Christianity

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment she has made of the security situation in Nigeria after reports of the killing of two Catholic priests and 15 parishioners in Benue State; and if he will make a statement.

Harriett Baldwin: We condemn the recent attack in Benue State, which included an attack on a church and up to fifty houses. We are deeply saddened by the suffering and loss of life. We are concerned by the substantial increase in serious clashes between farmers and cattle herders in recent months. We urge the Government of Nigeria to hold those responsible to account and to work with the affected populations to develop a sustainable solution to the conflict.

Overseas Aid

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what estimate he has made of the proportion of (a) total UK aid and (b) the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund committed to (i) disabled people and children living in fragile and conflicted states and (ii) disabled people and children living in Syria in each of the last three years.

Alistair Burt: The information requested is not held. The UK’s programmes in fragile and conflict affected states seek to meet the needs of vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities, including children. For example, specialist paediatric centres in Jordan are supporting children with behavioural and physical disabilities. We are pioneering the use of new assessment tools to help meet the needs of children with disabilities in opposition held areas of Syria.

Syria: Internally Displaced People

Joan Ryan: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking with (a) the UN (b) the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and (c) other international partners to support displaced people in Afrin, Syria; and if she will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: UK-funded partners including OCHA and other UN agencies are delivering assistance to those displaced from Afrin; this includes health, food, water, and nutrition and protection services. Both the UK and the UN are calling on all parties to facilitate access for life-saving humanitarian aid, and to allow freedom of movement for those caught up in the violence, in accordance with international humanitarian law.

Syria: Armed Conflict

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to help protect civilians caught up in the Syrian conflict since the UK air strikes of 14 April in that country.

Alistair Burt: On 14 April, the United Kingdom, together with our United States and French allies, took coordinated, limited and targeted action against the Assad regime’s chemical weapons capabilities to alleviate humanitarian suffering. At the UN Security Council and the International Syria Support Group we have continued to call on all parties to protect civilians in the Syrian conflict. Secretary of State Penny Mordaunt and I (Minister of State) attended the Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region Conference on 24-25 April in Brussels, where they focused on the need to protect civilians and aid workers in Syria, and called directly on the Assad regime and its backers to enable this. As the second largest bilateral donor to the humanitarian response in Syria since 2011, we are providing life-saving and life-changing support for millions of people. At the Brussels Conference, the UK pledged to provide at least £450 million this year, and £300 million next year, to alleviate extreme suffering in Syria and to provide vital support in neighbouring countries.

Developing Countries: Innovation

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what (a) the remit and (b) the priorities of the innovation hub will be; what countries will it focus on; how much funding has been allocated to that project; and from which external organisations or government bodies.

Harriett Baldwin: The Humanitarian Innovation Hub is currently a cross-UK Government mechanism involving several Government Departments to improve our response to disasters around the world, including by sharing experience and better use of innovation and new technologies. It will draw on existing Departmental budgets. We are in discussion with Other Government Departments and external organisations as the hub is set up.

Department for Education

Department for Education: Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many of his Department's invitations to tender have received no bidders in the last two years.

Anne Milton: Holding answer received on 02 May 2018



Since April 2016, DfE Commercial have managed in excess of 250 projects. Of these, there have been three projects for which we received no bids and a further two projects, which were split into geographical areas, for which one or more areas received no bids.

Vocational Education

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to encourage people to pursue technical education.

Anne Milton: Schools are legally responsible for providing independent careers guidance for all year 8-13 pupils on the full range of education and training options, including apprenticeships. The government’s careers strategy sets out how we will go further to make sure that young people can talk regularly to employers and training providers to inform the decisions that they make at important transition points. The strategy includes new legislation, introduced in January 2018, which requires all maintained schools and academies to make sure that there is an opportunity for a range of providers to talk to year 8-13 pupils about approved technical education qualifications or apprenticeships. Further information about the new law can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/skills-minister-highlights-new-provider-access-law-for-schools. We are transforming technical education to create a high quality system that meets the skills needs of businesses. 15 prestigious technical routes will set a clear path to skilled employment through apprenticeships and new flagship T level programmes. T levels will provide a distinctive and rigorous technical alternative to A levels. To ensure that young people understand T levels and the progression opportunities they will offer, we have been consulting students on their design and implementation. We will shortly be setting out more details on our plans for T levels.

Social Mobility Commission

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether there is currently an interim chair of the Social Mobility Commission.

Nadhim Zahawi: There is currently not an interim Chair of the Social Mobility Commission. Progress on appointing a new Chair and Commissioners is well underway and is taking place in line with the procedures set out in the Governance Code for Public Appointments. The department looks forward to working with the successful candidate to drive forward on improving social mobility.

Social Mobility: North East

Mr Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to improve social mobility in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside and (c) the North East.

Nadhim Zahawi: In December 2017, the department published ‘Unlocking Talent, Fulfilling Potential’, an action plan for driving social mobility through education. This plan sets out how we will tackle entrenched barriers to opportunity at every life stage. Increasing equality of opportunity across the country and tackling regional disparity sits at the heart of this approach. Our plans build on this government’s reforms since 2010, which are transforming opportunities for all children and young people right through their educational journey. This includes 1.9 million more children in good and outstanding schools than in 2010, record numbers of young people in education or training and more disadvantaged pupils going to university. Furthermore, the attainment gap between 16-year-olds who are disadvantaged and those who are not has closed by 10 per cent since 2011. In addition, we are investing £70 million through the government’s Northern Powerhouse Schools Strategy to tackle areas of underperformance and weak capacity. As part of this, we are investing in a £5 million scheme in the north trialling projects to tackle the ‘word gap’ that exists between disadvantaged children and their peers at age five. We are also investing £12 million in the north as part of our commitment to establish a national network of English Hubs with a specific focus on improving early language and literacy, and expanding the reach of the Maths Hubs network in the North to spread excellence in maths teaching.

Plymouth Studio School: Expenditure

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the cost to the public purse was of capital allocations for the Plymouth Studio School.

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the cost to the public purse was of the capital allocations for the Isle of Wight Studio School.

Nick Gibb: Capital funding for individual free schools, university technical colleges (UTCs) and studio schools, where costs have been finalised and are no longer commercially sensitive, are publicly available on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/capital-funding-for-open-free-schools.Additional finalised capital costs for individual free schools, university technical colleges and studio schools are due to be published in the coming months.

Department for Education: Mobile Phones

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what apps his Department has approved for use of mobile phones issued by his Department.

Anne Milton: Due to national security concerns it would be inappropriate to publicly supply a list of applications approved for use on mobile phones issued by the department, as to do so can facilitate hostile attacks against official systems.

Offences against Children

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will bring forward proposals to establish (a) levels of public expenditure and (b) measures to assess the effectiveness of that expenditure on services provided by his Department for child victims and adult survivors of child sexual abuse in line with the recommendation of the Interim Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, published on 25 April 2018.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse published its Interim Report on 25 April. The Report contains a series of recommendations for specific changes, several of which are directed at government. The government welcomes the Report and is now considering the Inquiry’s recommendations very carefully. We will respond fully in due course.

Disabled Students' Allowances

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 23 April 2018 to Question 135391, how many non-medical help providers have had (a) no payments, (b) fewer than five payments and (c) fewer than 10 payments since the introduction of the Disabled Students Allowance Quality Assurance Group list in April 2016.

Mr Sam Gyimah: Student Loans Company (SLC), which administers Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSAs), pays for the provision of support or equipment provided to students. It does so on receipt of an invoice from the supplier, and payments are made direct to providers on behalf of students. DSAs are allocated on a student-by-student basis, and although SLC maintains records of payments made to non-medical help providers this is a predominantly manual system. The information is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Pupil Exclusions

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 18 April 2018 to Question 135397 and with reference to the report, Local area SEND inspections: one year on, published on 18 October 2017, how many unofficial exclusions were found by the inspections that formed the basis of that report.

Nick Gibb: This is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Children: Care Homes

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the recommendation of the Independent Inquiry Child Sexual Abuse Interim Report, published on 25 April 2018 on introducing arrangements for the registration of staff working in care roles in children’s homes.

Nadhim Zahawi: We take the recommendations from the Interim Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse very seriously. The department will carefully consider the recommendation that focuses on the professional registration of staff working in care roles in children’s homes. The government will provide a formal response to the Inquiry’s report in due course.

Adoption: Standards

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when he plans to evaluate the performance of the Regional Adoption Agencies.

Nadhim Zahawi: We have commissioned a longitudinal evaluation that will assess Regional Adoption Agencies impact on adoption services. This evaluation is being led by Ecorys with the Hadley Centre and it will conclude in 2020.In ‘Adoption: A Vision for Change’, we committed to introducing Adoption Scorecards for Regional Adoption Agencies and we will be releasing more information in due course.

Pupils: Dyspraxia

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the current pathways for the identification of children at risk of dyspraxia in schools are.

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the nationally agreed criteria are for the identification, assessment and intervention for dyspraxia; and how adjustments for that condition at GCSE and A levels are determined.

Nadhim Zahawi: We require schools to assess a pupil’s needs as soon as they become aware that they are not achieving their potential. The pupil’s teacher and the school’s Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) should involve other teachers and should include the views and experience of the pupil, their parents or carers and any relevant external supporting information. If they identify a need for special educational support, they must formally notify the parents or carers and agree what adjustments, interventions or support will be put in place in a support plan. The subject teacher then is responsible for implementing the plan on a daily basis. The school should review the impact and progress made by the planned date and provide further support as needed. This “Assess, Plan, Do, and Review” cycle is set out for schools in detail in paragraphs 6.36-6.56, in the statutory guidance ‘Special educational needs and disability code of practice: 0 to 25 years’ (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25). Regarding adjustments for GCSEs and A Levels, schools have a duty under the Equality Act 2010 and must make reasonable adjustments, including the provision of auxiliary aids and services, to ensure that disabled young people are not at a substantial disadvantage compared with their peers. Exam boards have a duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled students who, because of their disability, would otherwise be at a substantial disadvantage when demonstrating their skills, knowledge and understanding in an assessment.

Academies

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many academy schools are awaiting re-brokering as of 26 April 2018.

Nadhim Zahawi: Holding answer received on 01 May 2018



As at 26 April 2018, there were 89 academies that have been approved by Head Teacher Boards to transfer to another trust. Academies may transfer to other trusts in a range of circumstances. In some cases, Regional Schools Commissioners may be intervening due to concerns about academy performance. In other cases, an academy may be moving trust as part of an agreed voluntary arrangement. Although transfers are agreed in principle, some may end up not going ahead for any number of reasons.

Department for Education: Plastics

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department has taken to reduce its use of single-use plastics.

Anne Milton: In our 25 Year Environment plan the government outlined a range of measures on how we will reduce the amount of plastic in circulation through reducing demand for single-use plastic. This included a commitment to removing all consumer single use plastics from the central government estate offices. At the Department for Education, in our London headquarters, we have already replaced all single-use plastic coffee cups and food containers from our catering services, with compostable alternatives. We have also replaced plastic water cups with compostable versions. We will continue to work with the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and our suppliers to remove single-use plastics from our office estate.

Students: Fees and Charges

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) UK  citizens and (b) Commonwealth citizens that are descendants of those who arrived in the UK under Windrush arrangements have been charged international student fee rates by UK universities in each of the last five years.

Mr Sam Gyimah: To qualify for home fee status in England, a person must have settled status or a recognised connection to the UK. This includes people who have long residence in this country, who are covered by EU law or who have been granted international protection by the Home Office. They must ordinarily have been resident in the UK before the start of their course. Higher education providers have the discretion to be flexible in dealing with individual cases. Data on students granted home fee status at UK Higher Education Institutions is recorded by the Higher Education Statistics Agency, however the immigration status of the students’ parents is not available.

Social Mobility

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has a dedicated unit for the (a) monitoring and analysis, (b) evaluation and (c) the creation of social mobility policy.

Nadhim Zahawi: Every stage of the education system plays a role in expanding opportunities for young people and adults. Social mobility therefore runs throughout every aspect of the department’s work. In ‘Unlocking Talent, Fulfilling Potential’, published in December 2017, the department set out an ambitious agenda for driving social mobility across a wide range of policy areas, from early years to careers. Given the breadth of this work and the fact that it cuts across so many parts of the department’s activity there are many units working on analysis, evaluation and creation of policies that drive social mobility.

Social Mobility

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many staff his Department have been assigned to work on workstreams relating to the (a) monitoring and (b) analysis of each of his Department's social mobility policies on (i) 1 October 2016, (ii) 1 April 2017,(iii) 1 October 2017, and (D) 1 April 2018.

Nadhim Zahawi: Social mobility runs through every aspect of the department’s work. The purpose of the education system is to give everyone, whatever their background, the skills to succeed in life. The department recently published ‘Unlocking Talent, Fulfilling Potential’, an action plan for driving social mobility by tackling entrenched barriers to opportunity at every life stage, from early years through to working life. The department has a range of teams undertaking monitoring and evaluation of its policies, however, since social mobility cuts across all of the department’s work, it is not possible to isolate the number of staff assigned to these activities.

Studio Schools: Costs

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the cost to the public purse of the site acquisition and construction costs of (a) Hyndburn Studio School, (b) Hull Studio School, (c) The Studio School Luton, (d) Inspire Enterprise Academy, (e) The Midland Studio College Nuneaton, (f) New Campus Basildon Studio School, (g) Kajans Hospitality and Catering Studio College, (h) Create Studio and (i) The Future Tech Studio.

Nadhim Zahawi: Holding answer received on 02 May 2018



Capital funding for individual free schools, university technical colleges (UTCs) and studio schools, where costs have been finalised and are no longer commercially sensitive, are published on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/capital-funding-for-open-free-schools. Additional finalised capital costs for individual free schools, UTCs and studio schools are due to be published in the coming months.

Foster Care

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 31 January to Question 124432 on Foster Care, what steps his Department is taking to promote the take-up of the foster-family-friendly employer policy by Government departments.

Nadhim Zahawi: The department is proud to be a foster-family-friendly employer, ensuring that flexibility and support is offered to those balancing work with fostering responsibilities. Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and the Department for Work and Pensions have since introduced similar policies.

Children: Day Care

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of applicants have not had their 30-hours free childcare code validated.

Nadhim Zahawi: The department published data regarding the number of 30 hours codes issued and validated for the summer term on 12 April in ’30 hours free childcare eligibility codes issued and validated: April 2018’, which is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/30-hours-free-childcare-eligibility-codes-issued-and-validated. The publication noted that, as of 9 April 2018, 327,558 (87%) of codes had been validated for summer out of a total 377,535 codes issued prior to 31 March 2018 – the deadline for summer applications. Therefore, 49,977 (13%) of codes had not been validated at this point in time. As has been seen in previous terms, it is expected that the number and percentage of codes validated will continue to increase during the term as parents and providers confirm their childcare arrangements.

Children: Day Care

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of the 30-hours free childcare scheme on trends in the (a) availability of childcare services, (b) proportion of well qualified childcare staff, (c) fees for non-funded hours and (d) providers' other free services.

Nadhim Zahawi: The department is still in the first year of national delivery of 30 hours free childcare which rolled out in September 2017. 294,000 children benefited from a 30 hours place in the spring term which, representing 89% of those who received an eligibility code. The independent evaluation of our early rollout areas showed that 83% of providers who were delivering the existing entitlements were willing and able to deliver 30 hours free childcare. According to the termly statistics published by Ofsted in March 2018, the number of places offered by providers on the Early Years Register (EYR) has remained stable at approximately 1.3 million since 31 August 2017. The number of places offered by non-domestic providers has increased slightly, while the number of childminder places has fallen slightly. The department will continue to monitor childcare provision going forward, via the Ofsted statistics and engagement with the profession. The quality of childcare has remained stable with 94% of providers on the EYR judged to be good or outstanding as at 31 December 2017 – the highest ever percentage. The independent evaluation reports of the early implementation and early rollout of 30 hours free childcare found no substantial adverse impact on the existing free entitlements. The department’s delivery support contractor, Childcare Works, has been working with providers and local authorities to promote the continued importance of the existing entitlements within the wider 30 hours free childcare delivery context.Data will be collected on the proportion of staff qualifications in early years settings available in the annual Survey of Childcare and Early Years Providers later in the year. In addition, the department is further enhancing its analytical programme to collect detailed research on childcare costs.The department has commissioned an independent evaluation of the first year of national delivery of 30 hours, which will report findings in the summer. The evidence from this report will be used to inform future delivery.

Teachers Pensions: Capita

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Teachers' Pensions contract with Capita, for how long that contract has been extended and what the cost of that extension was.

Nick Gibb: The initial contract to administer the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) was awarded to Capita TP in 2011 for a period of seven years. That contract was extended for a further three years and will now cease in 2021.The total cost of the contract extension is £10,763,000 per year over three years i.e. £32,289,000. The TPS is the second largest public sector scheme in the country, with nearly 2 million members and in excess of 9,000 employers. The TPS contract with Capita is the largest single contract managed by this department and has been rated platinum quality by the Cabinet Office and “low cost, high quality” by external benchmarking.

Adult Education: Finance

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions his Department has had with Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCA) on devolving adult education budgets; and what criteria will be used to determine the size of the budget that will be devolved to individual MCAs.

Anne Milton: Since the start of the year, three adult education budget (AEB) devolution specific workshops between the Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs), the Greater London Authority (GLA) and the department have been held. These have focused on making sure alignment between local and national policy objectives. In addition to this the department has established a structured data governance group to manage data issues and has a dedicated relationship manager for each area, to work on day to day operational issues in preparation for AEB devolution. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State has also met with the Mayor of West of England Combined Authority on 11 April 2018 and the Mayor of West Midlands on the 27 March 2018, in part, to discuss the progress of devolution of the AEB and future collaborative working between the MCAs/GLA and the department. Devolved AEB for the 2019/20 academic year for each MCA area and the GLA, will be based on the proportion of AEB participation delivery to learners resident in each MCA/GLA area in the 2017/18 academic year. These proportions will be applied to the AEB participation budget for the 2019/20 academic year, excluding any funds for national provision and continuing learners, to arrive at the individual budgets for MCAs and the GLA. MCAs and the GLA were informed of this on 13 March 2018.

Apprentices: Small Businesses

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to encourage more SMEs in (a) England and (b) Barnsley to take on apprentices.

Anne Milton: Smaller employers that do not pay the apprenticeship levy benefit from co-investment with 90 per cent of training and assessment costs for apprenticeships provided by the government. For the smallest employers, those with fewer than 50 employees, 100 per cent of the cost of training is paid for apprentices who are 16 to 18 years old, 19 to 24-year old care leavers or 19 to 24 year olds with an Education, Health and Care Plan. Through our recent procurement to deliver apprenticeship training to non-levy payers, we awarded hundreds of providers across the country with initial funding totalling around £490 million covering the period from January 2018 - April 2019. In April 2018, we awarded a further £68.6 million to 142 providers, including providers in Barnsley, through these contracts. This means SMEs have a real choice of high quality apprenticeship training provision, no matter where they are in the country or what sector they operate in; helping them to take on more apprentices and help meet their skills needs From May 2018 levy-paying employers will be able to transfer up to 10 per cent of funds to other employers (for example, smaller employers in their supply chain), using the apprenticeship service. The change means that not only will levy-paying employers have more options regarding how they use their levy funds, but that smaller organisations who may have previously felt that employing an apprentice was beyond their reach, will now have the opportunity to do so.

Pupils: Disadvantaged

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to improve the educational outcomes of vulnerable 16 and 17-year-olds.

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the quality of educational support provided to 16 and 17-year-olds in need of help or protection.

Nadhim Zahawi: On 16 March 2018, the government announced a programme of work to better understand how to improve the educational experiences and outcomes of children and young people with additional needs and challenges, so they are able to overcome barriers and realise their potential. This includes those who are 16 and 17 years old. These children and young people perform less well at school on average, are at greater risk of being excluded and are overrepresented in alternative provision. This is an overlapping cohort whose needs are often complex – many have special educational needs and disabilities (where support extends beyond 18, up to age 25), or are children in need of help and protection and so are supported through the social care system. The programme consists of:Launching a review into the educational outcomes of and support for Children In Need;Carrying out an externally led review of school exclusions;Publishing our vision for reforming alternative provision, including the launch of a £4 million Innovation Fund.As part of the review for children in need of help and protection, we have published new data and analysis, which offers initial insights into support provided in school for children in need who also claim free school meals, receive the pupil premium, and to meet special educational needs. This constituted new analysis, however, and the data did not include a breakdown by age. To enable us to understand what support works in practice, we have announced a call for evidence of effective practice to improve educational outcomes for children in need. This will start to bring together and build the evidence of what support is currently being delivered both in and out of school, how its effectiveness is being measured and evaluated, and its influence on educational outcomes.

Children: Communication Skills

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to his Department’s press release, Multi-million fund to boost children's early language skills, published on  30 April 2018, how his Department plans to assess the success of the £5 million scheme run by the Education Endowment Foundation; and whether his Department plans to roll out nationally successful elements of that scheme.

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to his Department’s press release, Multi-million fund to boost children's early language skills, published on  30 April 2018, what estimate he has made of the number of children who will benefit from the £5 million funding to improve children’s language skills.

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to his Department’s press release, Multi-million fund to boost children's early language skills, published on 30 April 2018, which areas in the north of England will benefit from the £5 million in funding to be distributed by the Education Endowment Foundation.

Nadhim Zahawi: As the government announced on 30 April, the Education Endowment Foundation will trial projects to provide practical tools and advice to parents so that they can help their child to learn new words. The Education Endowment Foundation will launch a call for proposals for home learning environment programmes to trial shortly. Trial areas will be finalised when the trial programmes have been selected. The department has not estimated the number of children that will benefit from the trial, however, our objective is to strengthen the evidence base and disseminate the findings widely in order that parents and children across the country can benefit.

Children: Communication Skills

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to his Department’s press release, Multi-million fund to boost children's early language skills, published on 30 April 2018, which local authorities in England will receive funding through the Early Years Social Mobility Peer Review Programme.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Early Years Social Mobility Peer Review Programme is open to all local authorities (LAs). LAs can express their interest by contacting earlyyears.socialmobility@lga.gov.uk. The programme will be piloted over the summer, with the full programme rolling out from autumn 2018; further details will be available in due course. Further information can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-social-mobility-peer-review-programme.

Schools: Vocational Guidance

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Education entitled How well do schools prepare children for their future, published in May 2017, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the recommendation that his Department should investigate ways to further professionalise the careers guidance sector.

Anne Milton: The government’s careers strategy is clear that personal guidance is an important element of a high quality careers programme in schools. The government expects all schools to work towards meeting the eight Gatsby Career benchmarks by the end of 2020. The Gatsby benchmark on personal guidance advises that all young people should have a careers interview by the age of 16, and the opportunity for one further such interview by age 18. This will make sure that all young people have opportunities for personal guidance with a careers professional whenever significant study or career choices are being made.The Career Development Institute (CDI) is doing excellent work to put in place programmes to train and upskill careers professionals, including a new focus on digital skills. The government’s careers statutory guidance encourages schools to search for qualified careers practitioners in their area on CDI’s UK Register of Career Development Professionals.We are investing £2.5 million to support the development of new cost-effective models for delivering personal guidance to clusters of schools and colleges. The funding will support the provision of personal guidance to young people, the training and ongoing continuing professional development (CPD) of career guidance professionals and the development of a pipeline of qualified career guidance professionals for the future. The Careers & Enterprise Company will shortly publish a prospectus setting out more details. These projects, and the resulting case studies, will be used to showcase successful and affordable delivery of the Gatsby benchmark on personal guidance.

Apprentices: Taxation

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the apprenticeship levy in increasing the (a) number and (b) quality of apprenticeships in England since the implementation of that levy.

Anne Milton: We’ve introduced a wide range of reforms to apprenticeships to improve quality and deliver the skills valued by employers that will increase productivity and help stimulate growth. This includes moving to employer-designed apprenticeship standards and underpinning some of the reforms by statute - including ensuring all apprenticeships last a minimum of 12 months, with at least 20 per cent off-the job training. The apprenticeship levy, launched on 6 April 2017, is an important part of our reforms, making sure there is long-term investment in apprenticeship training. Employers have taken time to plan their training but there have been 1.3 million starts in England since 2015; and there were 71,600 starts on apprenticeship standards reported in the first half of 2017/18; significantly higher than the 7,500 reported at this time last year (2016/17). This represents 36.9 per cent of all starts reported in 2017/18, showing that employers are moving quickly to the new higher quality offer. We expect the reforms to apprenticeships to have a positive effect on the amount of overall training undertaken by apprentices. The 20 per cent off-the job training rule, the shift to standards with a longer average duration, and the drop off in starts in lower-quality frameworks are likely to mean that, on average, apprentices will get more training throughout their apprenticeship.

Institute for Apprenticeships

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 19 April 2018 to Question 136052, on Institute for Apprenticeships, when he plans to provide the answer referred to.

Anne Milton: I refer the hon. Member for Blackpool South to the answer I gave on 1 May 2018 to Question 136052.

Sugar: Taxation

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department plans to allocate revenue raised from the sugar tax to services for severely obese children.

Nadhim Zahawi: The 2016 Budget announced funding for a number of programmes linked to the revenue from the Soft Drinks Industry Levy. The funding, which totals £575 million over the spending review period, has been allocated to a number of programmes to support pupil health and wellbeing, specifically the PE and Sport Premium, the Healthy Pupils Capital Fund, Breakfast Clubs and the essential life skills programme.

Ministry of Justice

Ministry of Justice: Mobile Phones

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what apps his Department has approved for use on mobile phones issued by his Department.

Dr Phillip Lee: The Ministry of Justice is a large department with a wide range of business needs for which a variety of apps are provided to enable business delivery. Due to national security concerns it would be inappropriate to publicly supply a list of applications approved for use on mobile phones issued by the Department, as to do so facilitates attacks against official systems by hostile actors.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service: Expenditure

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the total real terms change in his Department's expenditure on HM Courts and Tribunals Services was between (a) 2017-18 to 2018-19 and (b) 2010-11 to 2018-19.

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the real terms change in his Department's expenditure on the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority was between (a) 2017-18 and 2018-19 and (b) 2010-11 and 1018-19.

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the real terms change in his Department's expenditure on the Parole Board was between (a) 2017-18 and 2018-19 and (b) 2010-11 and 1018-19.

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the real terms change in his Department's expenditure on the Criminal Cases Review Commission was between (a) 2017-18 and 2018-19 and (b) 2010-11 and 1018-19.

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the real terms change in his Department's expenditure on the Judicial Appointments Commission was between (a) 2017-18 and 2018-19 and (b) 2010-11 and 1018-19.

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the real terms change in his Department's expenditure on the Office of Legal Complaints was between (a) 2017-18 and 2018-19 and (b) 2010-11 and 1018-19.

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the real terms change in his Department's expenditure on the Legal Services Board was between (a) 2017-18 and 2018-19 and (b) 2010-11 and 1018-19.

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the change in real terms was in his Department's funding allocation to the Legal Aid Agency for 2018-19 compared to 2017-18; and what that same change was for 2018-19 compared to 2010-11.

Rory Stewart: Final expenditure figures for the period 2017-2018 and full expenditure figures for 2018-2019 are not yet available.

Prison Officers

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has set a target for the net number of prison officers to be employed in the prison service in the next (a) 12 months and (b) three years.

Rory Stewart: I refer the honourable member to the answer to PQs 13608-10, given on 27 April 2018. As we focus on making our jails safe and decent places to support rehabilitation between the end of October 2016 and the end of March 2018 we have increased prison officer numbers by 3,111, which is already significantly over our target of 2,500 additional staff by the end of December 2018. These recruitment efforts form part of a wider drive to ensure that all prisons are fully staffed so that they can deliver safe and decent regimes.

Department for International Trade

Department for International Trade: Mobile Phones

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what apps his Department has approved for use of mobile phones issued by his Department.

Greg Hands: Due to national security concerns, it would be inappropriate to publicly supply a list of applications approved for use on mobile phones issued by the Department. To do so facilitates attacks against official systems by hostile actors.

Israel: Arms Trade

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether he has made changes to the conditions for the use of arms to arms components sold to Israel in the last two years.

Graham Stuart: All export licence applications are considered on a case-by-case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, known as the Consolidated Criteria, based on the most up-to-date information and analysis available, including reports from NGOs and our overseas network. The Consolidated Criteria provide a thorough risk assessment framework and require us to assess the impact of providing equipment and its capabilities. We will not issue an export licence if to do so would be inconsistent with the Consolidated Criteria.

Saudi Arabia: Arms Trade

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what was the value is of UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia since 2010.

Graham Stuart: Department for International Trade indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Legatum Institute

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 26 April 2018 to Question 137004 on Legatum Institute,  between what the purpose was of the meetings between Antonia Romeo and the Legatum Institute between 16 October 2017 and 8 December 2017; whether (a) notes and (b) documentation pertaining to those meetings were (i) produced and (ii) circulated to (A) Ministers and (B) officials in her Department; and whether the Legatum Institute made any proposals on Department or Government policy at those meetings.

Greg Hands: I refer the Hon Member to my previous answer of 23 April 2018, UIN 137004, which sets out that the details of these meetings are available on the Gov.uk website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?departments%5B%5D=department-for-international-trade&publication_type=transparency-data

UK Export Finance

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many applications UK Export Finance has received from (a) Leonardo, (b) Agusta Westland and (c) Selex in each of the last five years.

Graham Stuart: No applications were received and no support was provided to these companies in the last five years.Where such information is not commercially sensitive, UK Export Finance (UKEF) publishes details of the companies it has supported on an annual basis in its Annual Report and Accounts which are presented to Parliament and can be found on UKEF’s website.https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/uk-export-finance-annual-reports-and-accounts

Legatum Institute

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 19 April 2018 to Question 136006, on Legatum Institute, if he will list the meetings and discussions that officials of his Department have had with the Legatum Institute, and what the outcomes of those discussions were.

Greg Hands: Details of the meetings held by DIT Ministers are published on the Gov.uk website and can be found here:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?departments%5B%5D=department-for-international-trade&publication_type=transparency-data

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Housing: Finance

Wera Hobhouse: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 22 March to Question 132182 on the return of £817 million to the Treasury, if he will provide a breakdown of the original intended recipients of the funding that has now been returned.

Dominic Raab: Holding answer received on 30 April 2018



The information relating to the return of £817 million was published as part of Table 4 in the Supplementary Estimates Explanatory Memorandum 2017/18:https://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/communities-and-local-government/Correspondence/Supplementary-estimates-explanatory-memorandum-2017-18.pdf

Homelessness

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of Housing First targets to (a) reduce rough sleeping and (b) fund supported housing.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: International evidence shows that Housing First can be successful at ending the homelessness of those with the most complex needs. The Government is investing in three regional pilots to test the effectiveness of the approach in England.These pilots build upon learning from the Housing First Feasibility study Government co-funded in Liverpool City region, published in July 2017, which showed that Housing First could work to end the homelessness of those with the most complex needsRegarding Supported Housing funding reforms, an interim response to the consultation on the models was published on 3 April 2018 and a full response will be published in the summer.

System Building: Safety

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department has taken to support local authorities address safety concerns in relation to large panel system buildings since his Department’s letter of 5 September 2017.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department has taken to support housing associations address safety concerns in relation to large panel system buildings since his Department’s letter of 5 September 2017.

Dominic Raab: The Department’s letter of 5 September recommended that local authorities and housing associations check their records for whether strengthening work had been undertaken and/or to undertake surveys of any large panel system buildings which they own.The letter referred building owners to a number of reports available to be helpful in understanding how to assess large panel system buildings, including the Handbook for the structural assessment of large panel system dwelling blocks or accidental loading, which was published by the Building Research Establishment in 2012.The Department has commissioned the Building Research Establishment to review and update as the Handbook.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Mobile Phones

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what apps his Department has approved for use on mobile phones issued by his Department.

Jake Berry: MHCLG corporate issued phones are configured only to allow authorised applications (whether pre-installed on the phone or downloaded).To ensure the continued security of departmental devices, the list of applications would not normally be publicly listed.

Planning Permission

Alec Shelbrooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether local authorities are required to consult with residents of a neighbouring authority when a planning application is submitted relating to land abutting both local areas.

Dominic Raab: Local planning authorities are legally required to publicise applications for planning permission, prior to deciding the application.There is nothing to prevent a local planning authority notifying a neighbour resident in an adjoining authority area, where the application site abuts the boundary, and it would be considered good practice to do so.In some cases, such as for major development, the local planning authority has a statutory duty to either display a site notice or serve a notice on any adjoining owner/occupier informing them of the application, irrespective of the location of any local authority boundary.Local planning authorities must consider all representations received within the prescribed consultation period.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Plastics

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department has taken to reduce its use of single-use plastics ..

Jake Berry: In our 25 Year Environment plan the Government outlined a range of measures on how we will reduce the amount of plastic in circulation through reducing demand for single-use plastic. This included a commitment to removing all consumer single use plastics from the central government estate offices.

Temporary Accommodation

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 27 April 2018 to Question 137467, on Temporary Accommodation, how much of the £100 million programme for low-cost move on accommodation to enable people leaving hostels and refuges to make a sustainable recovery from a homelessness crisis into independent living has been allocated to each local authority area.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: We are carefully considering the design of the programme outside of London, including allocation of the remaining funding, to ensure strategic alignment with the Rough Sleeping Strategy, which we will publish in July.

Fast Food: Schools

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will revise planning system guidance so that the clustering of fast food and junk food outlets near to school premises is discouraged.

Dominic Raab: Current planning policy guidance provides local authorities with advice in relation to healthy food environments. It already states that local authorities may consider limiting a certain use of building class in an area, providing there is evidence to support such a decision.Considerations can include the proximity to locations where children and young people congregate, which would encompass schools but also play areas and community centres. Levels of obesity and the over-concentration of a use class within an area are also factors a local authority may consider.On 5 March the Government issued for consultation our proposed revision of the National Planning Policy Framework, which sets out stronger and clearer expectations of local planning authorities in their approach towards healthy communities. The revised framework has a greater emphasis on the importance of health and wellbeing in our communities and places, including through greater access to healthier food and recreational facilities.

Local Government: Staffordshire

Gareth Snell: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions (a) he and (b) officials of his Department have had with (i) Stoke-on-Trent City Council, (ii) Staffordshire County Council, (iii) Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council, (iv) Staffordshire Moorlands District Council and (v) Stafford Borough Council on local government reorganisation in Staffordshire.

Rishi Sunak: Whilst Ministers and officials regularly have discussions with councils, including those in Staffordshire, on a wide range of issues that may include local government reorganisation, no specific discussions on reorganisation have been held during this Parliament with Stoke-on-Trent City Council, Staffordshire County Council, Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council, Staffordshire Moorlands District Council or Stafford Borough Council.

EU Grants and Loans

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with the (a) the Secretary of State for Wales and (b) Welsh Government on the design and implementation of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund after the UK leaves the EU.

Jake Berry: The Government continues to work on the design and priorities of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF). We will consult with the Devolved Administrations in due course regarding how the UKSPF might work in their nations, recognising their expertise in delivering the structural funds.

Help to Buy Scheme

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the loss in value of Help to Buy equity loans owed to the Exchequer as a result of the discovery of unsafe cladding.

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the value was of planning obligations agreed to in each year since 2010-11; and what proportion of that value was attributed to (a) direct payments, (b) affordable housing and (c) other types of contributions.

Dominic Raab: Holding answer received on 30 April 2018






An error has been identified in the written answer given on 01 May 2018.The correct answer should have been:

Following the Grenfell Tower tragedy we have been working urgently to identify any other buildings over 18 metres with potentially unsafe aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding. With the support of local authorities, fire and rescue services and the expert panel, MHCLG is supporting building owners to take immediate steps to ensure the safety of residents. Homes England is also reviewing the implications where homes may have been purchased with the support of Help to Buy Equity Loan.The Government does not hold data for every year since 2010-11. In March this year we published a study on “The Incidence, Value and Delivery of Planning Obligations and Community Infrastructure Levy in England in 2016-17”. This found that last year Section 106 obligations with estimated value of £5.1 billion had been levied. This included affordable housing contributions worth an estimated £4 billion. £75 million of this was delivered through commuted sums, and the remainder was delivered in-kind.Excluding affordable housing and land, s106 obligations to the value of £613.1 million were levied in direct contributions, and obligations to the value of £72.1 million were levied in in kind contributions.

Dominic Raab: Holding answer received on 30 April 2018



Following the Grenfell Tower tragedy we have been working urgently to identify any other buildings over 18 metres with potentially unsafe aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding. With the support of local authorities, fire and rescue services and the expert panel, MHCLG is supporting building owners to take immediate steps to ensure the safety of residents. Homes England is also reviewing the implications where homes may have been purchased with the support of Help to Buy Equity Loan.The Government does not hold data for every year since 2010-11. In March this year we published a study on “The Incidence, Value and Delivery of Planning Obligations and Community Infrastructure Levy in England in 2016-17”. This found that last year Section 106 obligations with estimated value of £5.1 billion had been levied. This included affordable housing contributions worth an estimated £4 billion. £75 million of this was delivered through commuted sums, and the remainder was delivered in-kind.Excluding affordable housing and land, s106 obligations to the value of £613.1 million were levied in direct contributions, and obligations to the value of £72.1 million were levied in in kind contributions.

Ministry of Defence

Warships: Procurement

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department is planning to systematically collect information from prime contractors to accumulate data on the spatial distribution of spending on military warship programmes.

Guto Bebb: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) routinely collects statistical data on its direct expenditure with UK Industry and commerce, which includes tables showing expenditure by region and by Standard Industrial Classification (including Shipbuilding and repairing). However, the MOD does not hold regional expenditure statistics at a level to report on more specific activities such as spending on the military warships programme. The latest available data for 2016-17 is published at:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mod-regional-expenditure-with-uk-industry-and-supported-employment-201617

Shipbuilding

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he plans to commission research into the socio-economic effects of (a) the end of shipbuilding at BAE System’s Portsmouth yard and (b) recent job losses at Scottish yards to (i) maintain an evidence base on the effect of employment reductions and (ii) inform its procurement policy.

Guto Bebb: Commercial decisions on locations and staffing are the business of the companies concerned and the Ministry of Defence currently has no plans to commission any specific research on the subject. The National Shipbuilding Strategy sets out our ambitions to re-energise the shipbuilding industry in the UK and we will work with industry to achieve that. Our procurement policy follows HM Treasury guidelines, recognising all costs and benefits to the UK of a procurement decision, including socio-economic factors.

Ministry of Defence: Cost Effectiveness

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department plans to meet all of its expected efficiency savings in the financial year 2018-19; and if he will make a statement.

Gavin Williamson: The Department remains committed to meeting the agreed 2015 Spending Review efficiency target of £7.4 billion as part of a five-year programme, with savings reinvested in military capability; we are making good progress against this ambitious and challenging target.To ensure these plans continue to be robust, we are reviewing our efficiency plans as part of the Modernising Defence Programme.As a Department, we have already delivered over £5 billion efficiency savings during the previous Spending Review period between 2010 and 2016.

Aircraft Carriers: Procurement

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate his Department has made the cost of the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers above their £6.2 billion approved budget; and how much of that additional amount will fall on (a) the public purse, (b) his Department's budget and (c) contractors.

Guto Bebb: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question 71204 on 25 April 2017 to the hon. Member for Mid Sussex (Nicholas Soames). Any variation in price below or above the £6.2 billion approved cost of the programme will be shared equally by the Ministry of Defence and industry.



71204 - WQnA extract on Warships Shipbuilding
(Word Document, 23.68 KB)

Members: Correspondence

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Bridgend dated 8 March on training fatalities in 2016 and Army Annual Fitness Tests.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: I responded to the hon. Member on 30 April 2018; an interim reply was provided on 11 April 2018.

Defence Science and Technology Laboratory: Finance

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 26 April 2018 to Question 136870, on Defence Science and Technology Laboratory: Finance, what estimate he has made of the expected annual running costs of the Chemical Weapons Defence Centre; and whether any additional funding has been allocated for this purpose to the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory for the financial year 2021-22.

Guto Bebb: Running costs of the Chemical Weapons Defence Centre are expected to be similar to the existing facilities.

Ministry of Defence: Job Satisfaction

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent steps has he taken to improve the morale of staff within his Department.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: Within the Ministry of Defence (MOD) we are working to create the right environment so that staff can contribute as effectively as possible and feel that the MOD is a great place to work. In line with the wider Civil Service, we focus on the principle of engagement rather than purely on morale. We undertake the annual Civil Service People Survey which enables us to track engagement over time.Engagement is a priority for our senior leaders. A recent Leading Defence event included a discussion session on engagement to equip managers to take action locally. The 2017/18 capability building programme 'Leading Through Uncertainty' focussed on the relationship between the line manager and the individual. Initiatives such as these will ultimately improve morale and engagement. Local business areas also hold engagement events such as the self-organised 'Better Me Month', focussing on improving individual and collective resilience.

Department for Work and Pensions

Brain: Injuries

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with acquired brain injuries claim (a) high-rate and (b) low-rate Personal Independence Payments and Employment and Support Allowance.

Sarah Newton: Acquired brain injuries can commonly refer to a range of different conditions depending on the type of injury. When a claimant’s primary medical condition is recorded on our systems for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Personal Independent Payments (PIP), these conditions are grouped with other central nervous system categories on the datasets available for analysis. As such it is not possible for us to isolate acquired brain injuries as a separate recorded condition.

Brain: Injuries

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with acquired brain injuries that claim universal credit also claim (a) limited capability for work and (b) limited capability for work-related activities elements.

Sarah Newton: The requested information is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Personal Independence Payment

Stephen Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the timetable is for the introduction of automatic (a) audio and (b) video recording of personal independence payment assessments.

Sarah Newton: We want to continually improve the service that claimants receive which is why, to help improve people’s trust in the assessment process, we want to make recording the assessment easier. We intend to make recording a standard part of the process if the claimant so chooses. We are exploring potential options to record assessments, including video recording, which will inform timings.

Social Security Benefits: Scotland

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the Scottish Government's decision to remove the time-limited definition of terminal illness and to allow the clinical judgment of a registered medical practitioner to determine a terminal diagnosis.

Sarah Newton: It is a matter for the Scottish Government how they assess entitlement for devolved benefits. We will continue to work with the Scottish Government on the interaction between those benefits which are reserved and those which are devolved.

Social Security Benefits: Neuromuscular Disorders

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of (a) personal independence payment and (b) disability living allowance claimants with (i) Motor Neurone Disease and (ii) Parkinson’s Disease receive the highest rate award.

Sarah Newton: The latest available data on claimants that with Motor Neurone Disease and Parkinson’s disease that receive the highest rate of award is published and available at:https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk Guidance for users is available at:https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html

Vacancies: Internet

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many responsible carers and lone parents in receipt of legacy benefits and universal credit have received a sanction for not applying for a sufficient number of jobs using the Universal Jobmatch website.

Alok Sharma: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. We engage at a personal and individual level with all of our claimants and are committed to tailoring support and any conditionality requirements to reflect individuals’ specific circumstances and ensure they remain realistic and achievable. We take a number of steps to make sure our decisions are fair. When considering whether a sanction is appropriate, a Decision Maker will take all the claimant’s individual circumstances, including any caring responsibilities and any evidence of good cause, into account before deciding whether a sanction is warranted.

Vacancies: Internet

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of whether there is a sufficient number of part-time vacancies on the Universal Jobmatch site suitable for carers and lone parents with pre-school aged children who will be required to look for work in order to receive universal credit.

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of whether there is a sufficient number of vacancies advertised on the Universal Jobmatch site for responsible carers and lone parents with children aged between five and 12 years old who are required to look for work of at least 25 per hours per week in order to receive universal credit.

Alok Sharma: We have made no assessment of the sufficiency of the number of roles with part time or flexible hours advertised on Universal Jobmatch. However, full-time roles can be explored on a part-time basis and vice versa.

Vacancies: Internet

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether responsible carers and lone parents in receipt of legacy benefits and universal credit are required to use the Universal Jobmatch site to look for work; and whether activity on that site can be used as a measure of a claimant actively seeking work.

Alok Sharma: Universal Credit claimants who are subject to “all work-related requirements” and those claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance are expected to take all reasonable action to look for and take up paid work. This can include the requirement to use the Universal Jobmatch site to look for work.For responsible carers and lone parents receiving Universal Credit or Jobseeker’s Allowance, there are specific flexibilities to safeguard and help them balance their caring responsibilities with work search and availability requirements, so any requirements set are realistic and achievable. Activity on Universal Jobmatch can be used as evidence of a claimant actively seeking work. All work-related requirements are set in discussion with claimants, who take ownership of planning how they will meet the requirements and ultimately secure employment. The requirements any claimant is asked to meet are clearly set out in their Claimant Commitment.

Universal Credit: Mothers

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of universal credit rules on a mother's ability to return to work.

Alok Sharma: Universal Credit is designed to strengthen incentives for parents to move into and progress in work, and it is working. Universal Credit claimants move into work faster and spend more time looking for work. The Government now provides more support than ever before to help parents with the costs of childcare, including providing 15 hours a week of free childcare in England for all 3 and 4 year olds and disadvantaged 2 year olds, and doubling free childcare available for working parents of 3 and 4 year olds to 30 hours a week. We have also increased the level of support for childcare costs within Universal Credit from 70% to 85%, its highest ever level. This gives parents up to £646.35 per month for one child and £1108.04 per month for two or more children. We know that the longer someone is out of the labour market, the harder it can be to return when they are ready. As a result parents will be helped to prepare for work when their youngest child is two, and look for work when they are three. This will give them the best chance of finding a job which fits in with their caring responsibilities. Work-related requirements are tailored to individual circumstances and compatible with child care responsibilities. Work coaches can consider caring responsibilities when setting availability and work search hours. This will also include work preparation activities.

Universal Credit

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of the universal credit income taper and work allowances on gender equality in the labour market.

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of the universal credit income taper and work allowances on women returning to work after childbirth.

Alok Sharma: The Government now provides more support than ever before to help parents with the costs of childcare, including providing 15 hours a week of free childcare in England for all 3 and 4 year olds and disadvantaged 2 year olds, and doubling free childcare available for working parents of 3 and 4 year olds to 30 hours a week. We have also increased the level of support for childcare costs within Universal Credit from 70% to 85%, its highest ever level. This gives parents up to £646.35 per month for one child and £1108.04 per month for two or more children. We know that the longer someone is out of the labour market, the harder it can be to return when they are ready. As a result parents will be helped to prepare for work when their youngest child is two, and look for work when they are three. This will give them the best chance of finding a job which fits in with their caring responsibilities. Work-related requirements are tailored to individual circumstances and compatible with child care responsibilities. Work coaches can consider caring responsibilities when setting availability and work search hours. This will also include work preparation activities. In Universal Credit, there are none of the cliff edges or complicated hours rules of the old system, just a single, simple, taper so payments reduce in a transparent and predictable way as earnings increase. We know this is having a positive impact on employment outcomes, as shown in three separate research studies. The reports for these studies can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/644541/universal-credit-employment-impact-analysis-update.pdf. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/403546/Universal_Credit_estimating_the_early_labour_market_impacts_-_ad_hoc_19.pdf https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/481827/universal-credit-estimating-early-labour-market-impacts-dec-2015.pdf, https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/644541/universal-credit-employment-impact-analysis-update.pdf https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/643952/understanding-how-universal-credit-influences-employment-behaviour.pdf

Children: Maintenance

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to page 8 of the Child Maintenance Service's leaflet entitled Changes you need to tell us about: A guide for paying parents and receiving parents, published in November 2013,  what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of introducing a legal duty on parents who pay child maintenance to report increases in their income when those increases occur rather than on an annual basis.

Kit Malthouse: Paying parents are already required to provide information needed to make any decision where requested under the Child Support Act 1991. Where a calculation is based on a parent’s historic income, then changes may be reported within the year, however such changes will be picked up from the income data obtained from HMRC at annual review, so additional legal duties are not required. This provides a stable predictable maintenance amount allowing effective budgeting for both parents. There is also an existing duty within the Child Support Information Regulations 2008 which requires parents whose maintenance calculation is based upon their current income to report relevant income changes.

Department for Work and Pensions: Telephone Services

Ian Blackford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the procedures her Department has in place to ensure that pension enquiries from members of the public are resolved in a reasonable time period; and if she will make a statement.

Guy Opperman: For customers wishing to enquire about future pension provision they can request an on-line State Pension forecast. The majority of forecasts are through ‘Check Your State Pension’ or issued the same day, with any follow up enquiries resolved at the point of enquiry. DWP has a dedicated telephone line for citizens wishing to enquire about any aspect of State Pension. 95% of all incoming calls are answered in real time, with the remaining 5% withdrawing from call waiting queue without being answered. This may be due to demand or customer choice. The most recent published survey for period 2016/2017 states that 86% of customers are satisfied with the service offered by DWP. Satisfaction amongst State Pension customers had an overall satisfaction rate of 93%, with 62% stating they are “very satisfied” with the service provided. Services are continually monitored and assessed both in real time to meet any short term peaks in demand and also reviewed for longer term improvements to ensure the service continues to meet customer service expectation. There are of course other resources for citizens to enquire about future pension entitlement, for example Pension-wise and Gov.uk.

Universal Credit: Housing

Margaret Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information her Department holds on the number of people receiving universal credit who have faced eviction proceedings as a result of her Department (a) not paying the housing element as a result of administrative error and (b) making late payment where direct payment to the landlord has been authorised.

Kit Malthouse: As evictions and possessions are a matter between tenants and landlords and not directly related to the provision of benefits, this is not something the Department can collect data on from its systems.

Universal Credit: Housing

Margaret Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many cases there have been of (a) no payment, (b) underpayment and (c) late payment of the housing element of universal credit direct to landlords in each of the last three years.

Kit Malthouse: We plan to publish regular national statistics on Universal Credit, including payment timeliness, in the near future. This data is currently going through quality assurance clearance procedures in line with the National Statistics and Official Statistics publication standard.

Universal Credit: Housing

Margaret Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that the payment of the housing element of universal credit directly to landlords is made correctly.

Margaret Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the standard time frame is for payment directly to a landlord of the housing element of universal credit.

Kit Malthouse: Requests for Managed Payments to Landlords (MPtLs) are dealt with as a priority, and we aim to process the majority of MPtL cases within the assessment period in which they are received. The processing time of these requests is regularly monitored and to improve our service even further we have recently introduced a range of measures to improve the identification and processing of MPtLs. For landlords in the Social Rented Sector, we are rolling out the Landlord Portal Service and Trusted Partner status following successful pilots. This means that Social landlords who are Trusted Partners can apply for a managed payment via the portal and have the application accepted without challenge. Social landlords not on the portal can request managed payment from the start of the claim when completing the housing verification form. For Private landlords, in December 2017 we introduced new guidance for staff to ensure that claimants who had a managed payment to their landlord in Housing Benefit, were identified at the start of their Universal Credit claim. This allows our work coaches to consider and implement direct payment at the earliest point in the claim, provided the relevant criteria continue to be met. We have also delivered additional training to help staff identify when a MPtL would be appropriate. Further details about Managed Payments to Landlords can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-and-rented-housing--2/universal-credit-and-rented-housing-guide-for-landlords.

Universal Credit: Housing

Margaret Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which social landlords have trusted partner status for the purpose of facilitating payment of the housing element of universal credit.

Kit Malthouse: Following successful pilots of the Trusted Partner scheme and the Landlord Portal Service, DWP is rolling out both initiatives together. We are enrolling more landlords in stages, in tandem with the expansion of Universal Credit Full Service. This means that now all landlords with access to the Landlord Portal have Trusted Partner Status. The list of landlords already enrolled on the Landlord Portal is available in the House of Commons library at the following link. This includes stock owning Local Authorities where applicable.https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/business-papers/commons/deposited-papers/?fd=2018-04-04&td=2018-04-04&search_term=Department+for+Work+and+Pensions&itemId=119004

Housing Benefit: Coventry South

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much housing benefit was claimed in Coventry South constituency in each of the last five years.

Kit Malthouse: The requested information is all available on GOV.uk. Data on Housing Benefit expenditure by parliamentary constituency is published at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/669700/benefit-expenditure-by-parliamentary-constituency-2016-17.ods

State Retirement Pensions: Coventry South

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many pensioners in Coventry South constituency (a) receive the basic state pension, (b) receive pension credit and (c) are eligible for pension credit but do not claim it.

Guy Opperman: Information on the number of individuals in receipt of basic State Pension or Pension Credit, by parliamentary constituency, are published and available at: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk Guidance for users is available at: https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html The information requested on the number of individuals eligible to receive Pension Credit by parliamentary constituency is not available at that level.

Employment Schemes: Young People

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants on the Youth Obligation offer since April 2017 have moved into employment lasting over six months.

Alok Sharma: We do not hold this as part of any centralised management information process. To answer this would require identifying which claimants have ended their Youth Obligation Support Programme journey, and then match this with records from HMRC to determine their employment status over the subsequent six months. Therefore providing this information would incur disproportionate cost.

Work and Health Programme

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 27 April 2018 to Question 137389, when she plans for the first performance data from the Work and Health Programme to be published.

Sarah Newton: These statistics will be published in the autumn, in accordance with the relevant protocols in the Code of Practice for official statistics (dependent on user need and the quality of the associated data): http://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/assessment/code-of-practice/index.html

Work and Health Programme

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in what circumstances a jobseeker participating in the Work and Health Programme can be made subject to a sanction.

Sarah Newton: A participant in the Work and Health Programme can be sanctioned if they fail to participate in the programme or fail to apply for a vacancy notified to them by their provider without good reason.

Universal Credit: Greater London

Joan Ryan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made on the effect of the roll-out of universal credit on trends in the level of rent arrears in (a) the Enfield North constituency (b) the London Borough of Enfield and (c) London.

Kit Malthouse: Research shows that many people come onto Universal Credit with pre-existing rent arrears. We also know that arrears are usually temporary and the majority of claimants do succeed in paying their rent, managing their monthly payments and clearing their arrears over time. In our research, the proportion of Universal Credit claimants who were in arrears at the start of their claim fell by a third after four months. We are currently carrying out further analysis of this issue with a number of housing providers, to investigate and understand the true level of rent arrears for their tenants, what is causing them and any impacts Universal Credit may be having. It will be published when completed.

Poverty: Children

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of trends in the level of child poverty in London.

Kit Malthouse: National statistics on the percentage of children in low income are set out in the annual "Households Below Average Income" publication. Figures on the percentage of children in low income in London can be found in the link below, in table 4.16ts for relative low income, and 4.22ts for absolute low income. These are split into before housing costs (BHC) and after housing costs (AHC). Due to small sample sizes at a regional level, figures are available as three-year rolling averages.  https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/692047/children-hbai-timeseries-1994-95-2016-17-tables.ods

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Dartford-Thurrock Crossing: Air Pollution

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the volume of air pollution caused by traffic congestion on the Dartford Crossing.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: We have modelled air pollution concentrations for the Dartford Crossing that takes into account traffic data. Our latest modelling for the 2017 national plan has shown that there are no exceedances of pollutants on the Dartford Crossing.

Motor Vehicles: Exhaust Emissions

Martin Vickers: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to allocate funding to small and medium-sized enterprises to meet the (a) cost of replacing commercial vehicles that are no longer compliant with and (b) other costs arising from the implementation of Clean Air Zones.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: In July 2017, the Government published the UK Plan for tackling roadside nitrogen dioxide concentrations and announced a £255 million Implementation Fund for 28 local councils to accelerate their air quality plans in order to achieve compliance with legal NO2 limits as soon as possible. Where these local plans identify Clean Air Zones as the appropriate measure the Implementation Fund will be available to cover associated implementation costs. The Government has also announced £220 million for the Clean Air Fund, which will allow these local authorities to apply for funds to mitigate the impact of their plans on local businesses.

Animal Welfare

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 27 April to Question 904960 on Animal Welfare, how many animal rescue homes are members of the Association of Dogs and Cats Homes.

George Eustice: According to the website of the Association of Dogs and Cats Homes there are 76 full members and 55 associate members.

Home Office

Home Office: Equal Pay

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Home Office Gender Pay Gap Report 2017, if she will break down the pay gap data for (a) median, (b) mean and (c) bonus pay by (i) grade and (ii) profession.

Victoria Atkins: Home Office published our gender pay gap report on 18 December 2017, which can be found on the website:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-office-gender-pay-gap-report-and-data-2017 The median, mean and bonus pay from our gender pay gap data by grade is as follows:Gender Pay GapGender Bonus GapAA/AOMedian3.8%10.5%Mean3.8%17.2%EOMedian13.1%22.2%Mean6.9%14.8%HEO/SEOMedian7.7%-25.0%Mean4.8%-0.3%G7/G6Median1.5%0.0%Mean1.4%1.1%SCSMedian4.9%-16.4%Mean3.9%-7.5%

Members: Correspondence

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to respond to the letter of the hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion of 27 July 2017, Home Office reference J267471, on an immigration case within Brighton, Pavilion.

Caroline Nokes: I apologise for the delay in responding to the Honourable Member. I will respond separately.

Counter-terrorism: Finance

Nick Thomas-Symonds: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding was allocated to the Prevent strand of the counter-terrorism strategy in 2016-17.

Nick Thomas-Symonds: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding has been allocated to the Prevent strand of the counter-terrorism strategy in 2017-18.

Mr Ben Wallace: This Government is committed to the Prevent programme: Prevent's spend was £37.7 million in 2016-17, and is allocated £45.5 million from 2017-18. Prevent is working and is successful. Prevent has made a significant impact in safeguarding people being drawn into terrorism.

Crimes of Violence: Children

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential relationship between adverse childhood experiences and (a) violence perpetration by and (b) victimisation of that child.

Victoria Atkins: The Serious Violence Strategy sets out our assessment of the risk and protective factors which impact on an individual’s likelihood of becoming involved in serious violence as a victim or perpetrator.The impact of adverse childhood experiences are highlighted within this context and through the Police Transformation Fund the Home Office is providing £7m to the four police forces in Wales and Public Health Wales to develop and test a new approach to prevent and mitigate adverse childhood experiences.

Poisons Act 1972

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to amend the regulations in the Poisons Act 1972 on the (a) sale, (b) possession and (c) use of (i) phosphoric acid, (ii) hydrochloric acid, (iii) sodium hydroxide, (iv) ammonia and (v) hydrofluoric acid.

Victoria Atkins: We have no plans to currently amend the regulations in the Poisons Act 1972 on the sale, possession and use of phosphoric acid, hydrochloric acid, sodium hydroxide, ammonia or hydrofluoric acid. We will continue to keep the Act under review.Phosphoric acid, hydrochloric acid, hydrofluoric acid, sodium hydroxide, ammonia and ammonium hydroxide are all reportable poisons and this means retailers and wholesalers are required to report suspicious transactions, significant losses and thefts to the national contact point.

Doctors: Migrant Workers

Dr Philippa Whitford: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications by doctors for Tier 2 visas were (a) deferred and (b) declined in each month between January 2017 and April 2018.

Caroline Nokes: The information you have requested on Tier 2 applications by doctors is not included in statistics published by the Home Office. Information on the total number of Tier 2 entry clearance visa outcomes can be found in Visas volume 1 table vi_01_q here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-october-to-december-2017/list-of-tables#visas

Visas: Standards

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many non-straightforward visa applications have taken more than (a) 12, (b) 18 and (c) 24 months to process to completion since the second quarter of 2015.

Caroline Nokes: Visa applications are considered to be non-straightforward (complex) when an Entry Clearance Officer determines that additional information is required in order for a decision to be made.There are no set standards for processing non-straightforward by the caseworker. However, if an application is non-straightforward and expected to take longer than the standard processing timescale, UKVI will write to the customer within the standard processing time and to inform them that their application will not be concluded with the normal service standard.The published information on processing times for visa applications is published as part of the Migration Transparency data, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-transparency-data#uk-visas-and-immigration

Visas: Standards

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many non-straightforward visa applications remain outstanding for each quarter since Q2 2015.

Caroline Nokes: Information on processing times for visa applications is published as part of the Migration Transparency data, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-transparency-data#uk-visas-and-immigration

Human Trafficking: Albania

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the effect of his Department’s memorandum of understanding with the Republic of Albania on the improvement of (a) identification, (b) notification, (c) referral and (d) assisted voluntary return of victims and potential victims of human trafficking.

Victoria Atkins: A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Home Office and Albania’s Ministry of Internal Affairs was agreed to enable the exchange of information to assist both parties in their activities to combat trafficking in human beings.There has been no formal assessment of the effect of the MoU to date. Home Office officials have been in recent discussions with the Albanian authorities over how to make the most effective use of the MoU and this will include an annual assessment expected in spring 2019.

Refugees: Syria

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress his Department has made on resettling 20,000 Syrian refugees in the UK under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement programme by 2020.

Caroline Nokes: The Home Office is committed to publishing data in an orderly way as part of the regular quarterly Immigration Statistics, in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. Latest statistics published on 22 February, which covers the period up until the end of December 2017, confirmed that a total of 10,538 vulnerable people have been resettled under the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme (VPRS) since the start of the scheme. The statistics are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release.

Doctors: Migrant Workers

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that doctors from India that have received job offers to work in the NHS are given visas.

Caroline Nokes: The Government recognises fully the contribution that doctors working in the NHS – and other professionals – make to the UK.Doctors in specialisms which the Migration Advisory Committee have recognised as being in shortage in the UK already receive priority within the Tier 2 allocation system. None of these roles, which include consultants specialising in clinical radiology and emergency medicine, have been refused places. Over a third of all Tier 2 places go to the NHS.We continue to monitor the operation of Tier 2 to ensure that it strikes the right balance between supporting employers – including the NHS - accessing talent from overseas and that it works in the national interest and protects the resident labour market.

Home Office: Staff

Sir Vince Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the total number of additional contact staff his Department will employ to answer EU citizens’ immigration and residence queries.

Caroline Nokes: Recruitment is underway to bring existing UKVI European Casework staffing levels to circa 1,500 ahead of the EU Exit Settlement Scheme launch at the end of this year. We are also establishing a new Customer Resolution Centre for the EU Exit Settlement Scheme. This is a brand new ‘in-house’ team who will answer customer enquiries by phone and email seven days a week. Operational units across the Home Office actively monitor workflows to ensure sufficient resources are in place to meet demand and will continue to do so throughout negotiations and as the UK leaves the EU. Any resultant changes to resource requirements will be factored into strategic planning.

Crimes of Violence

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to figure 2 of the Serious Violence Strategy, published in April 2018, if he will publish the figures for (a) homicide, (b) firearms offences and (c) knife crime in each year for which figures are available from 1997-8.

Mr Nick Hurd: Information on homicide, offences involving firearms and offences involving knives or sharp instruments is regularly published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the Home Office. The ONS publishes information on offences recorded by the police including homicides, in Table A4 in their quarterly publication Crime in England and Wales. Data from 2002 are available here:https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/crimeinenglandandwalesappendixtables Historical data for police recorded homicides are available here:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/historical-crime-data For the purposes of the Serious Violence Strategy, the homicide data excluded certain mass homicide incidents. These include the 172 homicides attributed to Harold Shipman by the Dame Janet Smith Shipman Inquiry (recorded in 2002/03), 52 homicide victims of the 7 July London bombings (2005/06), 96 homicide victims of Hillsborough (2016/17) and 22 homicide victims of the Manchester Arena bombing and 13 homicide victims of the London Bridge/Borough Market and Westminster attacks (year to September 2017). The ONS also publishes offences involving firearms recorded by the police (excluding air weapons). Data are published on a comparable basis from 2002/03 and can be found in Table F2 available here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/crimeinenglandandwalesotherrelatedtables The Home Office started collecting statistics on the number of selected offences involving a knife or a sharp instrument recorded by the police in England and Wales on a comparable basis in 2008/09. These are published in Open Data Tables available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/701942/prc-knife-open-data-march2009-onwards-tables.ods

Police: Biometrics

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of the 30 April 2018 to Question 138075, on Biometrics, how the Government plans to improve the independent oversight and the governance of police use of automated facial recognition software.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Government will create a Board including the three relevant regulators (the Biometrics Commissioner, Surveillance Camera Commissioner and Information Commissioner) and police representatives. It will facilitate open dialogue between regulators and police forces that are considering piloting such technology. The Board will also consider all aspects of public trust in the police’s use of this technology, bringing together ethical and privacy considerations.

Advocacy: Young People

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much his Department plans to allocate to funding for Young Peoples Advocates in (a) 2018-19 and (b)  2019-20.

Victoria Atkins: We will continue to support the existing provision for Young People’s Advocates through Home Office funding of £475,000 pa in both 2018/19 and 2019/20, to provide support and advice to young people being exploited by gangs, especially if they have been victims, or are at risk, of sexual violence by gangs. In addition, we will explore whether the YPA model should be expanded to provide support in other areas. The Home Office has also provided related funding support for:Redthread, to support the expansion of their youth violence intervention scheme in hospital emergency departments outside London, starting with the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham in February 2018 and Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Heartlands Hospital in Birmingham in July 2018.16 local EGVE projects of over £280k, for activity delivered between October 2017 and March 2018, including: gang, knife and county lines awareness training for young people, practitioners and foster carers; community sports and arts provisions; mentoring programmes; and young peoples safeguarding workshops.

Crime Prevention: Finance

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much money his Department plans to allocate to (a) future knife crime media campaigns, (b) new local and regional reviews, (c) the test purchase prosecution fund, (d) support for interventions with vulnerable groups, (e) work on police testing kits in respect of corrosive substances, (f) a thematic inspection of police forces in respect of county lines and (g) preventative measures in respect of gang related material on social media (i) 2018-19 and (ii) 2019-20.

Victoria Atkins: The Serious Violence Strategy is supported by a total of £40 million of Home Office funding over two years to support specific initiatives set out in the strategy. We have already outlined how much funding will support the Early Intervention Youth Fund, the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre, the anti-knife crime Community Fund, the Young Peoples Advocates and the Ending Gang Violence and Exploitation Fund. Further details about the specific funding for the other initiatives will be announced in due course.

Female Genital Mutilation

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to ensure more effective (a) identification of and (b) support for people who are at high risk of being victims of female genital mutilation.

Victoria Atkins: Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a crime and it is child abuse. The Government is clear that we will not tolerate a practice that can cause extreme and lifelong suffering to women and girls. We have significantly strengthened the law on FGM, including introducing a mandatory reporting duty requiring regulated health, social care and teaching professionals to report known cases of FGM in under-18s to the police, which will lead to a greater number of victims and potential victims being identified. We have also introduced civil FGM Protection Orders to ensure we are able to protect women and girls at the earliest opportunity. These orders are already being used to good effect and since their introduction in July 2015, 205 FGM Protection Orders have been issued to December 2017. It is also necessary to raise awareness amongst frontline professionals to ensure they are able to effectively identify girls who may have undergone the procedure and those at risk. In April 2016 we published statutory multi-agency guidance on FGM to support professionals when responding to potential cases and to take necessary preventative action. We have developed free online training on FGM which, to date, has been completed by nearly 90,000 professionals. Our dedicated FGM Unit is delivering an ongoing programme of nationwide outreach with communities and professionals to raise awareness of the warning signs and significant harms caused by these practices and how to access support. Through its £17million Violence Against Women and Girls Transformation Fund the Home Office is providing funding for a number of projects working to tackle FGM and to support victims and those at risk, which include projects led by Havant Borough Council, West Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner and the Staffordshire Police and Crime Commissioner. In addition the Government has provided funding to Southall Black Sisters and the Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Organisation through the Tampon Tax Fund, both of which carry out work to tackle FGM. The Building a Stronger Britain Together (BSBT) Programme has provided funding for a number of community organisations working to change attitudes to tackle FGM and promote wider shared values. A full list of BSBT partners can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/661395/BSBT-list-of-groups.pdf. Work to tackle these crimes is an integral part of our cross-Government Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy, published in 2016, which sets out our ambition that by the end of this Parliament no victim or those at risk of abuse is turned away from the support they need. To help achieve this we have pledged increased funding of £100 million for VAWG between now and 2020.

Wales Office

Wales Office: Mobile Phones

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what apps his Department has approved for use on mobile phones issued by his Department.

Stuart Andrew: Due to national security concerns it would be inappropriate to publicly supply a list of applications approved for use on mobile phones issued by the Department, as to do so facilitates attacks against official systems by hostile actors.

Immigration: Wales

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, whether he has sought representations from the Welsh Government on the effect of the UK Government's immigration policies on the ability of the Welsh NHS to (a) recruit and (b) retain staff.

Alun Cairns: I have regular discussions with Welsh Government ministers on a range of issues, including the workforce in Wales.Specifically on immigration; Tier 2 (General), the main immigration route for skilled non-EEA workers, is subject to an annual cap of 20,700 places. The cap, set in 2011 on advice by the independent Migration Advisory Committee, enables the Government to demonstrate commitment to reducing net migration and to protecting the resident labour market.When demand exceeds the month’s allocation of Tier 2 (General) visas, priority is given to applicants filling a shortage.

Cabinet Office

Civil Service

Patrick Grady: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will respond to EDM 925, Professionalism and value of the British Civil Service.

Oliver Dowden: Holding answer received on 18 April 2018



The Government believes that the four key values outlined in the Civil Service Code - integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality - enable the UK Civil Service to carry out its responsibility to provide objective advice to Ministers without fear or favour. The Code requires all Civil Servants to put the obligations of public service above their own personal interests; be truthful and open; base advice and decisions on rigorous analysis of evidence; and act solely according to the merits of the case, serving equally well governments of different political persuasions.

Crown Commercial Service: Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many of the Crown Commercial Service's invitations to tender have received no bidders in the last two years.

Oliver Dowden: Every tender published in the Official Journal of the EU (OJEU) by the Crown Commercial Service during the period from April 2016 to March 2018 received bids.

Cabinet Office: Interserve

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department collects information on the proportion of funding allocated to Interserve which is spent by that company on subcontracting work.

Oliver Dowden: Cabinet Office does not hold information centrally on non SME subcontractor spend by individual Strategic Suppliers.

Treasury

Treasury: Diaries

Jon Trickett: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer,  how many page views there were of his Department's Ministerial diaries in each of the last 12 months.

Robert Jenrick: The page ‘HM Treasury: ministerial gifts, hospitality, travel and meetings’, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel’, has received over 1800 views over the past twelve months. These are detailed below: May-17125Jun-1788Jul-17198Aug-1792Sep-1790Oct-17159Nov-17234Dec-17280Jan-18168Feb-1880Mar-18197Apr-18111

Banks: Small Businesses

Tom Brake: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 23 January 2018 to Question 123416 on banks: small businesses, if he will list the options his Department has considered on dispute resolution between small and medium-sized enterprises and banks.

John Glen: It is important that small businesses have access to the appropriate forum to address their concerns with the financial services that they have received. The Government has welcomed the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) consultation on the remit of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS); recognises the ongoing work by both Parliament and UK Finance concerning dispute resolution for small and medium-sized enterprises; and we look forward to the next steps in this important work.

Tax Avoidance

Anneliese Dodds: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many schemes have been notified to HMRC under Disclosure of tax avoidance schemes in relation to the Employment Allowance avoidance scheme set out in the guidance issued by HMRC on 29th June 2015.

Mel Stride: No such schemes have been notified.

Enterprise Investment Scheme

Mike Amesbury: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he plans to publish the revised guidance notes relating to the Enterprise Investment Scheme following changes announced in Autumn Budget 2017.

Mel Stride: Guidance has been published in the Venture Capital Schemes Manual on the new risk to capital condition which came into effect on 15 March 2018. Other guidance on the extension of the scheme for knowledge-intensive companies will be published after commencement regulations have been made, which will apply the extension from 6 April 2018.

Research and Development Tax Credit

Ruth Cadbury: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to RD5 on page 29 of the Research and Development Tax Credits Statistics report, published in September 2017, whether HMRC is able to provide a supplementary table that breaks down the regional adoption of the tax relief by parliamentary constituency.

Mel Stride: The information requested is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. A supplementary table showing the breakdown by county/unitary authority is available here:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/corporate-tax-research-and-development-tax-credit

Treasury: Plastics

Thelma Walker: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department has taken to reduce its use of single-use plastics.

Robert Jenrick: Treasury recently introduced discounts for customers using their own cup (20p) or catering container (9p) at all catering facilities in 1 Horse Guards Road, and re-useable cups and catering containers are available to buy. We are working with suppliers to on further improvements to replace or reduce the use of single-use plastics.

Taxation: Fraud

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the average time is that the fraud investigation department of HMRC takes to (a) carry out investigations and (b) receive confirmation from the Crown Prosecution Service of a decision to prosecute; and if he will make a statement.

Mel Stride: The duration of a case is calculated as the time from the start of the case to the close, which includes the trial outcome and where relevant the issuing of a confiscation order. Criminal cases can vary significantly in their size and complexity with some cases concluding within a few months, whilst others can take years. Last year, one of our longest running cases concluded after over ten years.For cases that closed in 2018, the mean duration of a criminal case is 15 months and the median is 10 months.

PAYE

Dr Philippa Whitford: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government made an assessment of the potential merits of a conversion plan when introducing provisions on real-time information reporting to HMRC in order to mitigate the additional tax payable during the second 12-month period of the scheme as a result of moving the start of the tax year in 2013-14 from 1 April to 6 April.

Mel Stride: There were no changes made to the start of the tax year for Pay As You Earn (PAYE) as a result of the introduction of Real Time Information (RTI) which remained 6 April, or to the deadlines for paying the tax, National Insurance contributions and any other deductions due. As RTI was not expected to affect the annual levels of tax receipts, no conversion plan for additional tax payable was considered for 2013-14.

Child Tax Credit: Motherwell and Wishaw

Marion Fellows: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many claims have been made under the non-consensual conception exemption for child tax credit in the Motherwell and Wishaw constituency.

Elizabeth Truss: I refer the Honourable Member to the answer given on 25th April 2018 in response to question 136579.

Bank Services

Jo Stevens: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the progress made by the banking sector in ensuring that the needs of vulnerable consumers are met.

John Glen: The Government believes it is vitally important that the banking sector meets the needs of vulnerable consumers. The Government has given the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the independent conduct regulator for the financial services sector, a statutory objective to protect consumers. The FCA continually assess whether the banks they regulate are meeting the rules regarding the needs of vulnerable consumers. UK banks’ treatment of their customers is governed by the FCA in its Principles for Businesses, as well as specific requirements in its Handbook. The FCA's Principles require firms to conduct their business with due skill, care and diligence, and to pay due regard to the interests of its customers and treat them fairly. The nine largest personal current account providers in the UK are legally required to offer fee-free basic bank accounts to customers who do not have a bank account or who are ineligible for a bank’s standard current account. The Treasury’s December 2017 publication shows that in total there are nearly 8 million basic bank accounts open in the UK, and that just over 900,000 new accounts were opened between July 2016 and June 2017.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Tourism: Northern Ireland

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what information his Department holds on the number of overseas visitors to England and Wales that visited Northern Ireland as part of their stay in each of the last five years.

Michael Ellis: Although precise data is not available, VisitBritain estimate that international visits to Northern Ireland which also include a visit to England, Scotland or Wales was 14% in 2016, 10% in 2015, 15% in 2014, 10% in 2013 and 19% in 2012.

West Bromwich Albion Football Club

David T. C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 24 April 2018 to Question 135890 on West Bromwich Albion Football Club, whether the Sports Ground Safety Association recommended approval of the application by West Bromwich Albion to install rail seating at The Hawthorns.

Tracey Crouch: Spectator safety at sports grounds remains the priority for Government. The Sports Grounds Safety Authority (SGSA) is the regulatory body responsible for overseeing and advising on safety at sports grounds. I and my officials meet with and receive advice from the SGSA as part of the normal process of policy development. With regard to the application by West Bromwich Albion (WBA) to install rail seating at the Hawthorns, the Sports Grounds Safety Authority did not make a specific recommendation on whether Ministers should or should not approve the application by West Bromwich Albion.

Gambling

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many meetings he has had with (a) officials and (b) Ministers of the Department of Health and Social Care under its current and previous names to discuss problem gambling over the last 12 months.

Tracey Crouch: We take problem gambling very seriously. As the minister responsible for gambling, I met my Rt. Hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health and Primary Care recently to discuss these issues. Officials from the two departments have met to discuss the impact of problem gambling on several occasions and have worked together on the Review of Gaming Machines and Social Responsibility. Our response to the consultation will be published in due course.

Gambling

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the system of voluntary contributions from the gambling industry to fund research, education and treatment of gambling disorder.

Tracey Crouch: The government’s Review of Gaming Machines and Social Responsibility looks at research, education and treatment as part of our consideration of the effectiveness of social responsibility measures across the industry. The consultation closed on 23 January and we will publish our response in due course.

Comcast

Mr Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many times (a) Comcast and (b) any subsidiary of Comcast which holds broadcasting licences has been found to be in breach of the Broadcasting Code.

Mr Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many times (a) Comcast and (b) any subsidiary of Comcast which holds broadcasting licences has been sanctioned by Ofcom under the Broadcasting Code in the last 10 years; and for what reason those sanctions were imposed.

Margot James: The Department does not hold information on the regulatory compliance of broadcasters. This information has been requested from the independent regulator, Ofcom, and we will write to the Rt Hon member following the outcome of these discussions. A copy of the letter will be placed in the House library.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Mobile Phones

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what apps his Department has approved for use on mobile phones issued by his Department.

Margot James: Due to national security concerns it would be inappropriate to publicly supply a list of applications approved for use on mobile phones issued by the Department, as to do so facilitates attacks against official systems by hostile actors.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Plastics

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department has taken to reduce its use of single-use plastics .

Margot James: In our 25 Year Environment plan the Government outlined a range of measures on how we will reduce the amount of plastic in circulation through reducing demand for single-use plastic. This included a commitment to removing all consumer single use plastics from the central government estate offices.

Comcast

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he plans to take to notify hon. Members immediately in the event that he receives formal notification of Comcast’s takeover bid for Sky.

Matt Hancock: In line with Government guidance, the Secretary of State will aim to take a decision on whether to intervene in a specific acquisition/merger within 10 working days of the merger being notified to the relevant competition authorities. The Department recognises that such mergers are an issue of significant interest, and undertake to keep Parliament informed. The role of the Secretary of State, should a notification be made, is quasi-judicial. Specific procedures are in place to ensure that the Secretary of State’s decision-making process is scrupulously fair and impartial should a decision be necessary.

Public Lending Right: Electronic Publishing

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will set out the timetable for extending the public lending right to e-book loans.

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when his Department plans to publish its response to the consultation on the extension of the public lending right to e-book loans.

Michael Ellis: The Digital Economy Act 2010 extended the Public Lending Right (PLR), with effect from 1 July 2014, to include the lending of audio-books and the lending of e-books where such lending takes place from library premises. The Government response to the consultation on extending the PLR to include public library loans of audio-books and ‘on-site’ e-book loans was published in May 2014. Section 31 of the Digital Economy Act 2017 (DEA 2017), when commenced, will extend the PLR to include the remote lending of e-books and audiobooks, where such lending takes place away from library premises. The Department intends to shortly consult with interested parties about amending relevant secondary legislation to ensure that it reflects section 31 of the DEA 2017. We intend to lay the necessary statutory instruments commencing section 31 of the DEA 2017 and amending relevant secondary legislation as soon as is practicable, following consideration of the responses to consultation.

Public Lending Right: Electronic Publishing

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will publish the timetable for for introducing Public Lending Right to e-book loans.

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what his policy is on bringing forward legislative proposals to extend public lending rights to e-book loans.

Michael Ellis: The Digital Economy Act 2010 extended the Public Lending Right (PLR), with effect from 1 July 2014, to include the lending of audio-books and the lending of e-books where such lending takes place from library premises. Section 31 of the Digital Economy Act 2017 (DEA 2017), when commenced, will extend the PLR to include the remote lending of e-books and audiobooks, where such lending takes place away from library premises. The Department intends to shortly consult with interested parties about amending relevant secondary legislation to ensure that it reflects section 31 of the DEA 2017. The Government intends to lay the necessary statutory instruments commencing section 31 of the DEA 2017 and amending relevant secondary legislation as soon as is practicable, following consideration of the responses to consultation.

Wembley Stadium

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to ensure that the public interest is safeguarded in any potential sale of Wembley Stadium.

Tracey Crouch: My Department, along with Sport England and the Greater London Authority will be discussing the potential sale of the stadium with the Football Association over the course of this month. We will be seeking reassurances that both the interests of the national teams and the grassroots are protected and would benefit from any potential deal.

Women and Equalities

Discrimination

Melanie Onn: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, when she plans to implement the dual discrimination provisions set out in s14 of the Equality Act 2010.

Victoria Atkins: We keep un-commenced provisions of the Equality Act 2010 under review. Successive governments have not considered that sufficient evidence exists to justify the cost and complexity of introducing section 14 of that Act, which would enable a single discrimination claim to be brought under any two characteristics in the Act. People may already bring a claim under more than one characteristic in relation to the same alleged case of discrimination, and courts and tribunals can consider such claims concurrently.

Northern Ireland Office

Northern Ireland Office: Sick Leave

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many and what proportion of his Department's staff have had days off sick because of mental illness or stress in each of the last three years; and how many days off that amounted to in each of those years.

Mr Shailesh Vara: Fewer than five civil servants were on a leave of absence from work in the Northern Ireland Office due to mental illness in each of the last three years. A full answer would risk the identification of individuals and is therefore not provided. The information below details the number of sick days registered under Mental Disorders, which includes stress. A wide range of conditions are encapsulated under the term “Mental Disorders” including conditions such as stress, anxiety, depression, mood-affective disorders, disorders of personality and behaviour and schizophrenia. YearNumber of Staff in postDays Absent due to Mental Disorders or Stress2015-2016104212016-2017973282017-201811678

Attorney General

Attorney General: Plastics

Thelma Walker: To ask the Attorney General, what steps his Department has taken to reduce its use of single-use plastics.

Jeremy Wright: In our 25 year environment plan, the Government outlined a range of measures on how we will reduce the amount of plastic in circulation through reducing demand for single-use plastic. This included a commitment to removing all consumer single use plastics from the central government estate offices.